Dependent origination

It is the states beginning with ignorance that should be understood as dependent origination.  With ignorance as condition there are (volitional) formations; with formations as condition, consciousness; with consciousness as condition, mentality-materiality; with mentality-materiality as condition, the sixfold base; with the sixfold base as condition, contact; with contact as condition, feeling; with feeling as condition, craving; with craving as condition, clinging; with clinging as condition, becoming; with becoming as condition, birth; with birth as condition there is ageing-and-death, and sorrow, lamentation, pain, grief, and despair; thus there is the arising of this whole mass of suffering.  This is called the dependent origination.
It is the states beginning with ageing-and-death that should be understood as dependently-originated states.  Ageing-and-death is impermanent, bhikkhus, formed, dependently originated, subject to destruction, subject to fall, subject to fading away, subject to cessation.  Birth is impermanent... becoming... clinging... craving... feeling... contact... the sixfold base... mentality-materiality... consciousness.. formations... ignorance is impermanent, formed, dependently originated, subject to destruction, subject to fall, subject to fading away, subject to cessation.
The states that are conditions should be understood as the dependent origination.  The states generated by such and such conditions are dependently-originated states.
It should be understood that dependent origination has the characteristic of being the conditions for the states beginning with ageing-and-death.  Its function is to continue the process of suffering.  It is manifested as the wrong path.

Goenkaji: Every moment one is taking birth, every
moment one is dying. Understand this process of life and
death. This will make you very happy, and you will
understand what happens after death.

Here are my aspirations worded in a better and far more advanced way than i could ever create

i aspire to head in this direction.

"The principal focus is on cultivating a mind wishing to benefit other sentient beings.  With an increase in our own sense of peace and happiness we will naturally be better able to contribute to the peace and happiness of others.  Given the habitual orientation of the mind, fixed as it is upon the supposed reality of ego and phenomena, rooted in the duality of subject and object... the fact that an impulse toward perfect altruism and self-forgetting can arise at all seems nothing short of miraculous.
The doctrine of karma has only one message: the experience of states of being follows upon the perpetration of acts.
Buddhism teaches that the object of compassion is simply suffering itself.  All beings, at all times and regardless of circumstances, are worthy objects.  The vow of the bodhisattva is to deliver beings from suffering, in other words to deliver them from the causes of their suffering.
How is it, that mere thoughts can cause so much havoc?  It is simply because we allow them to do so.  Thoughts after all are merely thoughts.
The simple but difficult task is to become aware of how thoughts emerge and develop.  Just as the mind is the source of every suffering, likewise it is the wellspring of every joy."

Our hometown's hero!

I read this in the book On the Beaten Path: Westborough, Massachusetts.  by Kristina Nilson Allen

Tom Cook, Westborough’s Robin Hood, saw himself as the “Leveler” since he balanced the local economy by giving to the poor what he stole from the rich.  Noted for his cunning and personal charm, Tom Cook was born on October 6, 1738 in the “plaster house” at 114 East Main Street on the west corner of Lyman Street.  He was the son of the blacksmith Cornelius Cook and his wife Eunice Forbush Cook.

Legend has it that as a child Tom became deathly ill, and his mother- at her wit’s end- cried out, “Only spare his life, only spare his life, and I care not what he becomes!” Miraculously the child was spared and grew into a handsome scoundrel who made his livelihood by his sharp wit and agile fingers.  The Cook family left Westborough to settle in Wrentham in 1750, but Tom Cook chose to wander the New England countryside, stealing from carefully chosen, affluent victims.  Supposedly Cook also managed to collect protection money from those who did not relish a visit from the thief.

Tom Cook kept none of this booty for himself; he doled it out generously to those less fortunate than their neighbors.  He would slip into one prosperous farmer’s kitchen and steal a pudding cooking on the fire, only to drop it into the pot of a hungry family down the road.

One story has Tom climbing into a bedroom and selecting the very best featherbed.  Wrapping the comforter in a sheet, he climbed out the window, went around the hosue, and knocked at the door.  When the mistress of the house answered the door, Tom Cook asked politely if he might leave his bundle with her for safekeeping.  The woman refused to have either Tom Cook or his bundle in her house, so off he went with a clear conscience to present a sick comrade with the featherbed.

Although he was often arrested, Tom seemed little interested in mending his ways.  Reverend Parkman recorded in his journal for August 27, 1779, “The notorious Thomas Cook came in (he says) on Purpose to see me.  I gave him what Admonition, Instruction, and Caution I could.  I beseech God to give it Force!  He leaves me With fair Words – thankful and Promising.”

In his old age, Cook no longer could rely on his wits to live.  His last years were spent on the Upton Road farm of Levi Bowman who boarded the town’s poor.  Tom Cook died near the age of ninety and is thought to be buried in an unmarked pauper’s grave in town.

More of his exploits are described in The Leveller by Jackie Greene (1984) and The Hundredth Town by Harriet M. Forbes.

do you find his behavior acceptable?

like ze quotes i like zem

To be aware of a single shortcoming within oneself is more useful than to be aware of a thousand in someone else.

~ Dalai Lama ~

NOW IS TIME FOR SIMPLE ACTS OF KINDNESS

So what can "we" do when tragedy strikes in another place? We see photos but it really does not touch our personal lives. We feel hopeless so maybe just turn off the tv, or whisper to a loved one that it is so sad, I am glad you are safe. And then we go about our business.

But is that enough? Can we do more? 

Perhaps one way to contribute to the relief of suffering is to look at our own lives and offer a healing to someone. The healing can come with a long-awaited phone call or letter, holding back a criticism, offering an encouragement, a visit to a lonely person... we know what it is in our lives that we have been holding back on - perhaps too busy or too involved in "self" - just a simple offering of generosity, of kindness, of love will help not only the recipient, but all of us.

~ Dalai Lama ~

Dear monks..
be mindful of what consists of our body…
Those are.. hair, nails, teeth, skin, flesh, liver, blood vessels, bones, cartilages, gall bladder, kidneys, heart, lungs, intestines, stomach, stools, urine, blood, sweat, saliva, brain, mucus, tears, and fat.. 
Being mindful of these, help u to understand the true nature of our body, and that helps to dissolve the myth of ego…

"The results of karma cannot be known by thought, and so should not be speculated about. Thus, thinking, one would come to distraction and distress. "Therefore, Ananda, do not be the judge of people; do not make assumptions about others. A person is destroyed by holding judgments about others." 

If a man's mind becomes pure, his surroundings will also become pure.

Love is characterized as promoting the welfare of others. Its function is to desire welfare. It is manifested as the removal of annoyance. Its proximate cause is seeing the loveable-ness in beings. It succeeds when it makes ill-will subside, and it fails when it gives rise to selfish affection.

Compassion is characterized as promoting the removal of others' suffering. Its function is not bearing others' suffering. It is manifested as kindness. Its proximate cause is seeing helplessness in those overwhelmed by suffering. It succeeds when it makes cruelty subside, and it fails when it gives rise to sorrow.

Sympathetic joy is characterized as joy in the success of others. Its function is being free from envy. It is manifested as the elimination of aversion. Its proximate cause is seeing other beings' success. It succeeds when it makes aversion subside, and it fails when it gives rise to merriment.

Equanimity is characterized as promoting equipoise towards beings. Its function is to see the equality in beings. It is manifested as quieting like and dislike. Its proximate cause is seeing the ownership of deeds thus:

"Beings are heirs to their deeds. Whose, if not theirs, is the choice by which they will become happy, or will be free from suffering, or will not fall away from the success they have reached?" It succeeds when it makes like and dislike subside, and it fails when it gives rise to the indifference of ignorance based on the household life.

~ Visuddhimagga 318

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tulku

Introduction to The Encyclopedia of Saints by Rosemary Ellen Guiley

"My long-standing interest in saints came to a turning point in 1997 after an unexpected, spontaneous and deeply moving experience.
In the spring of that year, I traveled to Montreal to speak at a conference.  Montreal is home to St. Joseph's Oratory, a magnificent structure built on Mount Royal, a small mountain within the city environs.  It is a healing shrine, the world's largest pilgrimage center dedicated to St. Joseph.  Some 2 million people of all faiths from all over the world come here every eyar to pray for the intercession of a remarkable saint, Blessed Brother Andre, whose tomb lies within the oratory. One Sunday, I visited the oratory and joined  a large throng of people lined up to pay their respects at the tomb.  I came with no particular purpose other than to see the oratory and witness others.  I didn't even know much about the life of Brother Andre.  What happened to me there caused me to learn about his life and miraculous healing work.

Brother Andre was born Alfred Bessette in a village east of Montreal in 1845 to a poor and humble family.  He was small and of delicate constitution, and suffered poor health all of his life.  In 1870, he sought to enter the Congregation of the Holy Cross, a religious order dedicated to the teaching profession.  The order accepted him despite his lack of education, and gave him the lowly job of doorkeeper at Notre Dame College in Mount Royal.  He took the name Andre in honor of his sponsor, Pastor Andre Provencal.

Brother Andre spent much of his time in prayer.  When he was off-duty, he visited the sick.  Miraculous cures were attributed to him and he soon became renowned as the "Wonder Man of Mount Royal." People came from afar to see him.  He always credited the cures to the intercession of his patron saint, Joseph.

Brother Andre's ability was not greeted with warmth within his own religious community.  Some were skeptical and even opposed him.  The quiet little man persevered, always within the requirements of authority, and fianlly realized his great dream to build na oratory in honor of St. Joseph.  It began with a tiny chapel on Mount Royal in 1904.  Over the years, donations in honor of Brother Andre have enabled expansions.  The present basilica is the tallest point in Montreal, and holds 3,000 people.

Brother Andre died in 1937 and was beatified in 1987 by Pope John Paul II.  His death did not end his healing work.  As millions of pilgrims attest, his intercession from beyond the grave enables continuing miracles of divine healing.

Brother Andre's heart is on view as a relic, encased in a clear glass container in the oratory.  But the real attraction, the real power center, is his small black granite tomb, called the Black Coffin.  Pilgrims come to touch the tomb and pray for healing.

So there I was this one Sunday morning, filing into the small alcove that contains the tomb.  Outside the alcove, candlelight flickered over the high walls filled with the canes and crutches people had thrown away after miraculous healings there.

The tomb itself was small, plain and unadorned.  The simplicity of its surroundings certainly gave no hint that therein lay the remains of a miracle healer revered around the world.  Someone had placed a single red rose atop the tomb.  People waited for a turn to touch the black granite while others crowded around them.  At last I maneuvered to the front and placed both palms on top of the tomb.

When I touched the tomb, I felt a burning begin in the center of my chest.  It astonished me.  The feelings intensified, as though my heart center were on fire.  This feeling of fiery heat radiated out to the rest of my body, growing stronger, until I felt as though I were enveloped in invisible flames.  I felt strangely unable to move.  As I stood riveted to the tomb, it came to me that I was touching the heart of god, experiencing the burning fire of true unconditional love.  it was flowing into me as a heat and fire that literally were burning away imperfections in me.  layer upon layer peeled away.  the intensity and brilliance of this radiance were overwhelming.

Suddenly I understood that there is a difference between love and unconditional love.  Love heals, nurtures, nourishes and sustains.  Unconditional love purifies.  This difference is at once subtle and profound; at once infinitesimal and vast.  I was being purified in some way by unconditional love.

The burning sensation lasted as long as I held my hands on the tomb.  I remained swept up in a rapture equal to that of any saint.  I have never felt so much in the presence of God.

On my last day in Montreal I returned to the oratory.  I was anxious to touch the Black Coffin again.  I desired that incredible fire that had taken me into the presence of God.  It was a weekday, with few people about, and so this time I had the entire alcove to myself.  But when I touched the tomb again there was no burning.  Instead I felt a deep and soft inner radiance.  It was another extraordinary experience, but of a different sort.

In retrospect, I realized that of course I would not experience the same fire.  A mystical experience is unique and not repeated.  The expansion of consciousness that comes from it is needed only once.

What was the source of the power that facilitated such an experience?  How can a holy person continue, from the other side of death, as a channel for divine grace?  I do not know the answers, but only continue to explore the mystery.  Was I changed?  Yes.  Like the experience itself, I was changed in both subtle and profound ways.  I did not feel that I had become "holy" or anything of the sort.  And though I felt "stuff" burned off of me, I still possessed the same flaws and shortcomings.  But I have a much different awareness of love now, and of the importance of bringing love to its highest and purest expression, that of unconditional love.

This experience joins the records of countless other transformative experiences had by people the world over when they come into the presence of saints.  As I mentioned at the beginning, I had already long been interested in saints as part of my study of mysticism.  This experience with Brother Andre propelled me into a deeper study of both.