Jendhamuni - Buddhism and inspiring quotes

Craving, anger, jealousy, despair, fear, and wrong perceptions

1 December 31, 2020

Happiness is not possible unless we are free from afflictions – craving, anger, jealousy, despair, fear, and wrong perceptions. Freedom is one of the characteristics of nirvana. Some kinds of happiness actually destroy our body, our mind, and our relationships. 2019Freedom from craving is an important practice. Look deeply into the nature of what you think will bring you happiness and see whether it is, in fact, causing those you love to suffer. You have to know this if you want to be truly free. Come back to the present moment, and touch the wonders of life that are available. There are so many wholesome things that can make us happy right now, like the beautiful sunrise, the blue sky, the mountains, the rivers, and all the lovely faces around us. ~ Thich Nhat Hanh
Meditation is one of the rare occasions when we’re not doing anything

Comment December 31, 2020

Meditation is one of the rare occasions when we’re not doing anything. Otherwise, we’re always doing something, we’re always thinking something, we’re always occupied. We get lost in millions of obsessions and fixations. But by meditating – by not doing anything – all these fixations are revealed and our obsessions will naturally undo themselves like a snake uncoiling itself. ~ Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche
Just be Yourself!

4 December 29, 2020

There are women’s fashion magazines that tell us that in order to succeed, you have to look a certain way, and use a certain product. Many young people in our society want to have cosmetic surgery in order to meet that standard of beauty. They suffer very much, because they cannot accept their bodies. When you do not accept your body as it is, you are not your true home. Every child is born in the garden of humanity as a flower. Your body is a kind of flower, and flowers differ from one another. Breathing in, I see myself as a flower. Breathing out, I feel fresh. ~Thich Nhat Hanh
The Fourth Noble Truth

Comment December 29, 2020

What is the Noble Truth of the Way Leading to the Cessation of Suffering? It is the Noble Eightfold Path, that is to say: Right View, Right Intention, Right Speech, Right Action, Right Livelihood, Right Effort, Right Mindfulness and Right Concentration.

There is this Noble Truth of the Path leading to the Cessation of Suffering: such was the vision, insight, wisdom, knowing and light that arose in me about things not heard before….

This Noble Truth must be penetrated to by cultivating the Path….

This Noble Truth has been penetrated to by cultivating the Path: such was the vision, insight, wisdom, knowing and light that arose in me about things not heard before.

[Samyutta Nikaya LVI, 11]

The Fourth Noble Truth, like the first three, has three aspects. The first aspect is: ‘There is the Eightfold Path, the atthangika magga – the way out of suffering.’ It is also called the ariya magga, the Ariyan or Noble Path. The second aspect is: ‘This path should be developed.’ The final insight into arahantship is: ‘This path has been fully developed.’

The Eightfold Path is presented in a sequence: beginning with Right (or perfect) Understanding, samma ditthi, it goes to Right (or perfect) Intention or Aspiration, samma sankappa; these first two elements of the path are grouped together as Wisdom (panna). Moral commitment (sila) flows from panna; this covers Right Speech, Right Action and Right Livelihood – also referred to as perfect speech, perfect action and perfect livelihood, samma vaca, samma kammanta and samma ajiva. Continue reading →
The Story of a Group of Six Bhikkhus

Comment December 29, 2020

Verse 129: All are afraid of the stick, all fear death. Putting oneself in another’s place, one should not beat or kill others.

The Story of a Group of Six Bhikkhus

While residing at the Javana monastery, the Buddha uttered Verse (129) of this book, with reference to a group of six bhikkhus (chabbaggi) who picked a quarrel with another group comprising seventeen bhikkhus.

Once seventeen bhikkhus were cleaning up a building in the Jetavana monastery-complex with the intention of occupying it, when another group comprising six bhikkhus arrived on the scene. The group of six said to the first group, “We are senior to you, so you had better give way to us; we will take this place.” The group of seventeen did not give in, so the chabbaggis beat up the other group who cried out in pain. The Buddha learning about this reprimanded them and laid down the disciplinary rule forbidding bhikkhus to beat others.

Then the Buddha spoke in verse as follows:

Verse 129: All are afraid of the stick, all fear death. Putting oneself in another’s place, one should not beat or kill others.

Dhammapada Verse 129
Chabbaggiya Bhikkhu Vatthu

Sabbe tasanti dandassa
sabbe bhayanti maccuno
attanam upamam katva
na haneyya na ghataye.

Source: Tipitaka
If we have both mindfulness and awareness

Comment December 28, 2020

If we have both mindfulness and awareness, when the mind is wild and distracted, thinking only about worldly things, we should think that until now we have been caught up in the suffering of samsara, and realize how useless everything is that we do in that regard. If the mind is spoiled by being caught up in that way, there will be no way to become free from the suffering of the three lower realms. If the mind is not spoiled, our bliss and happiness will increase, just like that of the exalted ones. Thinking of that, we should try to heal the mind. In the beginning, it is very difficult to control, but gradually, as we get used to doing so, it becomes easier. ~ Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche
The Third Noble Truth

Comment December 28, 2020

What is the Noble Truth of the Cessation of Suffering? It is the remainderless fading and cessation of that same craving; the rejecting, relinquishing, leaving and renouncing of it. But whereon is this craving abandoned and made to cease? Wherever there is what seems lovable and gratifying, thereon it is abandoned and made to cease.

There is this Noble Truth of the Cessation of Suffering: such was the vision, insight, wisdom, knowing and light that arose in me about things not heard before.

This Noble Truth must be penetrated to by realising the Cessation of Suffering….

This Noble Truth has been penetrated to by realising the Cessation of Suffering: such was the vision, insight, wisdom, knowing and light that arose in me about things not heard before.

[Samyutta Nikaya LVI, 11]

The Third Noble Truth with its three aspects is: ‘There is the cessation of suffering, of dukkha. The cessation of dukkha should be realised. The cessation of dukkha has been realised.’

The whole aim of the Buddhist teaching is to develop the reflective mind in order to let go of delusions. The Four Noble Truths is a teaching about letting go by investigating or looking into – contemplating: ‘Why is it like this? Why is it this way?’ It is good to ponder over things like why monks shave their heads or why Buddha-rupas look the way they do. We contemplate…the mind is not forming an opinion about whether these are good, bad, useful or useless. The mind is actually opening and considering. ‘What does this mean? What do the monks represent? Why do they carry alms bowls? Why can’t they have money? Why can’t they grow their own food? We contemplate how this way of living has sustained the tradition and allowed it to be handed down from its original founder, Gotama the Buddha, to the present time. Continue reading →
As we go through life…

3 December 28, 2020

As we go through life, and we learn more from our experiences, it is impossible to avoid the lessons that pain will bring. The key to overcoming the pain in your life is to realize that though pain is something that is inevitably a part of life, we have the choice of whether we are going to wallow in it and suffer, or move on from it, and do our best to let it go.

Our lives are much too short to just focus on the hurtful times, and instead we should make great attempts to stay on the path towards greatness and reaching our dreams despite how much pain we may be in. Eventually the pain of your present will diminish, and if you waste time by not continuing to move forward you will be set back much further than you would have if you would of just worked through it. So hold on, be strong; keep pushing through the rough patches in life, because eventually pain ends. ~J. Johnson
The Buddha Teaches a Lesson on Forgiveness

1 December 27, 2020

3-year-old Ananda

The Buddha was sitting under a tree talking to his disciples when a man came and spit on his face. He wiped it off, and he asked the man, “What next? What do you want to say next?” The man was a little puzzled because he himself never expected that when you spit on somebody’s face, he will ask, “What next?” He had no such experience in his past. He had insulted people and they had become angry and they had reacted. Or if they were cowards and weaklings, they had smiled, trying to bribe the man. But Buddha was like neither, he was not angry nor in any way offended, nor in any way cowardly. But just matter-of-factly he said, “What next?” There was no reaction on his part.

Buddha’s disciples became angry, they reacted. His closest disciple, Ananda, said, “This is too much, and we cannot tolerate it. He has to be punished for it. Otherwise everybody will start doing things like this.”

Buddha said, “You keep silent. He has not offended me, but you are offending me. He is new, a stranger. He must have heard from people something about me, that this man is an atheist, a dangerous man who is throwing people off their track, a revolutionary, a corrupter. And he may have formed some idea, a notion of me. He has not spit on me, he has spit on his notion. He has spit on his idea of me because he does not know me at all, so how can he spit on me? Continue reading →
Let your smile change others, but never let others change your smile

1 December 27, 2020

A smile gives red colour to your cheeks, white to your teeth, pink colour to your lips, silver colour to your eyes, so keep smiling and enjoy the colors of life. Smile more than crying. Give more than taking. Love more than hating. Keep the smile, leave the tear, think of joy, forget the fear, hold the laugh, leave the pain, Be joyous, till we meet again. ~ Funbull sms modified

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Shantidevas’ Bodhisattva vows

Should anyone wish to ridicule me and make me an object of jest and scorn why should I possibly care if I have dedicated myself to others?

Let them do as they wish with me so long as it does not harm them. May no one who encounters me ever have an insignificant contact.

Regardless whether those whom I meet respond towards me with anger or faith, may the mere fact of our meeting contribute to the fulfilment of their wishes.

May the slander, harm and all forms of abuse that anyone should direct towards me act as a cause of their enlightenment.