1. You only lose what you cling to

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    Learning to let go should be learned before learning to get. Life should be touched, not strangled. You’ve got to relax, let it happen at times, and at others move forward with it. ~Ray Bradbury

    “You only lose what you cling to.” ~Buddha

    Red rose for Ariyamagga

     

  2. If we look according to reality

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    nature scene 092615

    If we look according to reality, without trying to sugar things over, we’ll see that it’s really pitiful and wearisome. Dispassion will arise. This feeling of ‘disinterest’ is not that we feel aversion for the world or anything; it’s simply our mind clearing up, our mind letting go. We see things as not substantial or dependable, but that all things are naturally established just as they are. However we want them to be, they just go their own way regardless. Whether we laugh or cry, they simply are the way they are. Things which are unstable are unstable; things which are not beautiful are not beautiful.

    So the Buddha said that when we experience sights, sounds, tastes, smells, bodily feelings or mental states, we should release them. When the ear hears sounds, let them go. When the nose smells an odour, let it go…just leave it at the nose! When bodily feelings arise, let go of the like or dislike that follow, let them go back to their birth-place. The same for mental states. All these things, just let them go their way. This is knowing. Whether it’s happiness or unhappiness, it’s all the same. This is called meditation.

    Meditation means to make the mind peaceful in order to let wisdom arise. This requires that we practise with body and mind in order to see and know the sense impressions of form, sound, taste, smell, touch and mental formations. To put it shortly, it’s just a matter of happiness and unhappiness. Happiness is pleasant feeling in the mind, unhappiness is just unpleasant feeling. The Buddha taught to separate this happiness and unhappiness from the mind. The mind is that which knows. Feeling2 is the characteristic of happiness or unhappiness, like or dislike. When the mind indulges in these things we say that it clings to or takes that happiness and unhappiness to be worthy of holding. That clinging is an action of mind, that happiness or unhappiness is feeling.

    When we say the Buddha told us to separate the mind from the feeling, he didn’t literally mean to throw them to different places. He meant that the mind must know happiness and know unhappiness. When sitting in samādhi, for example, and peace fills the mind, then happiness comes but it doesn’t reach us, unhappiness comes but doesn’t reach us. This is to separate the feeling from the mind. We can compare it to oil and water in a bottle. They don’t combine. Even if you try to mix them, the oil remains oil and the water remains water, because they are of different density. ~Ajahn Chah

     

     

  3. Stay a child while you can be a child

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    All of us have moments in out lives that test our courage. Taking children into a house. ~Erma Bobeck
    “Stay a child while you can be a child.” ~ Stephen Sondheim

    Children at school

     

     

  4. Nothing will change

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    You can complain as much as you like about your life and the problems nothing will change unless you stop complaining and start making things right yourself. ~Anurag Prakash Ray

  5. Jealousy

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    From among all… adverse conditions, the foremost is jealousy. Jealousy can rob us of our freedom and interrupt loving relationships between people. Jealousy occurs when we cannot tolerate others encountering situations that seem to involve more happiness than what we have. When we continually feel the need to have others beneath us and none equal to us, that is jealousy. When we are controlled by jealousy, we only feel comfortable when others come to us for assistance; we only feel at ease when others are looking to us with hope. We cannot stand being in situations where others have something that we need.

    When we become jealous, we are not willing to see the positive qualities of others. Whether we are alone or in a group, when we are overcome by jealousy our eyes are not willing to see the good things in others; they are constantly looking for other’s faults. We build up intolerance toward the faults of others. In particular, when we see others enjoying good fortune that exceeds our own, we cannot stand it. In this way, we create extra and superfluous difficulties for our minds to deal with.

    A better approach would be to pay more attention to our own conduct than to the conduct of others. ~17th Karmapa

     

     

  6. Elephant NGO barred by zoo

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    Asian elephant Seila eats food in her enclosure at Kampot’s Teuk Chhou Zoo last month. Vireak Ma

     

    Charles Parkinson, The Phnom Penh Post
    Fri, 25 September 2015

    Elephant conservation NGO EARS Asia has been ejected from Teuk Chhou Zoo in Kampot province and forbidden from caring for its two elephants, amid mounting pressure for a proposed animal swap involving the pair to be called off.

    In a statement posted on their Facebook page yesterday, EARS Asia spoke of the devastation felt by founder Louise Rogerson, who has overseen the care of elephants Kiri and Seila for the past three years, after she was barred from entering the zoo on Wednesday.

    The move by the zoo follows the launch of a campaign by EARS Asia in August to prevent Kiri and Seila from being swapped with animals living at the Hirakawa Zoo in southern Japan.

    “This will not stop us in our campaign to bring to the world the absurdity of the Cambodian and Japanese trade deal. This also means that our campaign is working,” reads the statement.

    While that campaign has been run by the EARS Asia board in Hong Kong without Rogerson’s participation, her ejection follows a series of articles in both the Cambodian and international press highlighting concerns surrounding the proposed deal.

    Those concerns focus on the ability of Teuk Chhou Zoo to properly care for any new animals it receives, as well as the stress the journey would cause the animals involved.

    During a visit to Teuk Chhou Zoo in late August, the Post witnessed hungry and unkempt animals, with several carrying visible injuries and many showing signs of severe psychological distress. Continue reading

  7. Avoiding criticism

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    boy with ducks

    We should not say bad things about anyone, whether or not they are bodhisattvas. It is not the same thing, however, if we know that pointing out someone’s mistakes will help them to change. Generally speaking, since it is not easy to change another person, we should avoid criticism. Other people do not like to hear it and, further, laying out their faults will create problems and troubles for us. We who are supposed to be practicing the dharma should be trying to do whatever brings happiness to ourselves and others. Since faultfinding does not bring any benefit, we should carefully avoid it.

    If we really want to help someone, perhaps we can say something once in a pleasant way so that the person can readily understand, “Oh yes, this is something I need to change.” However, it is better not to repeat our comments, because if we keep mentioning faults, not only will it not truly help, it will disturb others to no good effect. Therefore not mentioning the faults of others is the practice of bodhisattvas. ~17th Karmapa

     

  8. Expanding our compassion

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    If we allow our compassion to remain only inside of ourselves, our compassion will become powerless, without a function. It would become like a vase that despite having the ability to carry water had been placed high upon a shelf and never used.

    To expand our compassion we can apply our imagination to everyday’s situations. Sometimes when the wind blows I imagine that my compassion mixes with the wind and is carried in every direction to touch all sentient beings. Sometimes when I see beautiful clouds in the sky I imagine that they carry my compassion and that all beings over whom the clouds hover also experience the feeling of compassion. We can also do contemplation involving our five sense faculties. For example, we continually have objects in our visual field. Having first giving rise to compassion mentally we can then spread that compassion to any sentient being who appears before our eyes and imagine that they experience all of our compassion, love and joy. – Karmapa 17th Karmapa

Hermit of Tbeng Mountain

Sachjang Phnom Tbeng សច្ចំ​​ ភ្នំត្បែង is a very long and interesting story written by Mr. Chhea Sokoan, read by Jendhamuni Sos. You can click on the links below to listen. Part 1 | Part 2

List of Khmer songs