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Twenty One Aphorisms on Love. To meditate on. So we do not deceive ourselves

Metta, A Pali word (language of the Buddha) means a profound depth of love/loving kindness/friendship, often depending on context.

He used the strongest possible language for those citizens in India of deep religious faith. In its deepest sense, he said metta ranks as a ‘Brahma Vihara’ – literally Abiding with God.

To the non-religious, he stated Metta is Immeasurable -has no limits, needs no measurement. In the same way, reality has no limits, no measurement in the expanse of things.

1.    “I love you so much and I need you so much” obscures love. Such neediness come from lack of love.

2.   Compassion confirms love with the purpose to reduce or dissolve suffering.

3.   Daily meditations/reflections on love and its expressions in daily life develop knowing the value of love.

4.   Dedication to what is beautiful and significant reveals an act of love transcending dynamics of praise and blame.

5.   Desires might get what you want but that does not mean you can give love to who or what you want.

6.   Experiences of authentic reality uncovers an extraordinary freedom from deceptions triggering wonder. There is love for profound experiences to enlighten our life and life of others.

7.    Know the support for love, which includes consciousness, interest, patience and a deep resolution to move through the storms of life, inner and outer.

8.   Love abandons domination of self-interest preferring to weather insecurity, instead of indulging in possessive behaviour.

9.   Love affirms life without the desire to get what we can from it.

10.                    Love bears little or no relationship to intense emotions.

11.                     Love confirms a sharing or giving towards the other while desire wants the other to come to oneself.

12.                    Love confirms that that we matter no more, no less, nor the same, as the other.

13.                    Love has the power to reveal truths, never seen nor known before.

14.                    Love moves beyond the contracted self to support the movement of love

15.                    Love reveals as an activity, not as a personal claim.

16.                    Love supports who or what is loved. It is indispensable for a wise and sustainable co-existence

17.                     Love triggers aliveness bringing us closer to the nature of things, inwardly and outwardly.

18.                    Poetry provides a legitimate resource to see into reality and expand our view.

19.                    Love includes an expansion of views contracted through projections. Love explores an infinite numbers of ways to confirm love.

20.                  Romantic love does not require presence of another but experiences of sensuality in the waking up of the senses.

21.                    Self-forgetfulness does not dissolve through self-love, self-compassion or self-help but reveals in a transcendent priority unbound to self.

Twenty One Aphorisms on Love. To meditate on. So we do not deceive ourselves Read More »

Is Islam a threat to Western civilisation or is the West the real threat to itself?

I have much  affection and respect for the Muslim communities. I had the opportunity in 1967 and after to travel to Muslim countries – Turkey, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Malaysia, Sumatra/Java (Indonesia) plus numerous annual visits to Palestine between 1993 to 2019. I learnt to appreciate the virtues and not deny the vices of the Muslim world. I take much the same view of the West – much to appreciate and much to feel deep concern about.

As a founder of Prajna Vihar School in Bodh Gaya, India in 1992, we begun an inter-religious school to cultivate harmony and understanding between teachers and young people of different faiths and secular beliefs. Action speaks louder than words.

Is Islam a threat to Western civilisation or is the West the real threat to itself? Read More »

Sixteen Questions and Answers on Karma. Views on Good and Evil

An exploration of karma (actions/deeds with consequences) needs to be brought into public conversation in the West on personal, social and political issues. …

Sixteen Questions and Answers on Karma. Views on Good and Evil Read More »

Dharma Dancing Guidelines. Dancing Your Way to Liberation

Dharma Dancing Guidelines. Dancing Your Way to Liberation Read More »

A Nose and a Hand-kerchief. Cultural Differences. Different Strokes for Different Folks

While teaching a residential course last week in the Pauenhof Buddhist Zentrum, in Germany, I heard a graphic example of differences in culture. I have expanded on it to make a point.
A person went to India and witnessed Indians blowing their nose with head pointing down to the ground – one finger on one nostril and then the other nostril.
The Westerner said to her travelling companion: “That’s disgusting.”
A little while later, a Westerner in India blew his nose into their handkerchief and then put their handkerchief back into their pocket.
An Indian turned to his companion and said: ” She put her handkerchief back into her pocket. That’s disgusting.”
To summarise: We easily jump to conclusions about the behaviour of another with no idea how our behaviour may appear to others.
From The Ballad of East and West by poet Rudyard Kiplin (1865-1936)
Oh, East is East, and West is West, and never the twain shall meet,
Till Earth and Sky stand presently at God’s great Judgment Seat;
But there is neither East nor West, Border, nor Breed, nor Birth,
When two strong men stand face to face, though they come from the ends of the earth! |
Do you have an example of cultural differences?

A Nose and a Hand-kerchief. Cultural Differences. Different Strokes for Different Folks Read More »

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