Buddhism in daily life - Mindfulness in every day tasks Archiv
364 Episoden
6 Minuten
The Plague God
Many years ago, an old wanderer was sitting under a tree, taking a rest.
Then the god of plagues passed by his place, the man was frightened and fear overtook him. Nevertheless, he greeted the god and asked him what he was doing in this area, why he was here.
The plague god answered him that he was on his way to the next town to kill 100 inhabitants there, that was his task, he had to do that.
Glad that the god did not want to kill him, the man said goodbye to the scary figure, took a bottle of wine from his sack and emptied it in one go, he fell into a deep sleep and began to dream deeply.
Madness had seized him, now he saw the city in front of him, many people died a terrible death, everywhere was fire, smoke, stench and screams. In his imagination he also saw the plague god roaming through the city, touching people with a stick, and then they started screaming and running away in panic, an apocalypse was taking place in his imagination.
All of a sudden, the plague god turned around, looked directly at the wanderer, in a dream, without warning. The wanderer gathered all his courage and addressed the god: "You told me under the tree that you wanted to kill 100 people, yes you had to, but now thousands are already dead and many more will die, why are you doing this, why are you killing more inhabitants than it corresponds to your task"?
The plague god answers: "But I have killed only 100, the other people die from their fear, from the fear, from the horror. And from the events that arise from this horror; I have only done my job and killed 100, the rest die from the consequences for which the people themselves are responsible, not because of me, I have set the cause, yes, but the other consequences are not my fault".
The man woke up in a sweat, took his bundle and went his way, he never came back to that city again!
What do we learn from this story?
With our attitude of mind we determine our ego, we affect our environment with it, we influence everything around us, people, animals, things.
The horror creeps from house to house, ringing all people out.
I now dismantle my doorbell, turn off my phone, and otherwise, I am no longer accessible for the horror.
Wisdom grows in quiet places!
Great wisdom has no outward form, good things take a long time, strong sounds are rarely heard.
- Lü Buwei - Chinese philosopher - 300 to 236 B.C.
Copyright: https://shaolin-rainer.de
(Please also download my app "Buddha-Blog English" from the Apple and Android stores)
Please rate us on Apple, Google, or Spotify podcast to help us promote the show
Many years ago, an old wanderer was sitting under a tree, taking a rest.
Then the god of plagues passed by his place, the man was frightened and fear overtook him. Nevertheless, he greeted the god and asked him what he was doing in this area, why he was here.
The plague god answered him that he was on his way to the next town to kill 100 inhabitants there, that was his task, he had to do that.
Glad that the god did not want to kill him, the man said goodbye to the scary figure, took a bottle of wine from his sack and emptied it in one go, he fell into a deep sleep and began to dream deeply.
Madness had seized him, now he saw the city in front of him, many people died a terrible death, everywhere was fire, smoke, stench and screams. In his imagination he also saw the plague god roaming through the city, touching people with a stick, and then they started screaming and running away in panic, an apocalypse was taking place in his imagination.
All of a sudden, the plague god turned around, looked directly at the wanderer, in a dream, without warning. The wanderer gathered all his courage and addressed the god: "You told me under the tree that you wanted to kill 100 people, yes you had to, but now thousands are already dead and many more will die, why are you doing this, why are you killing more inhabitants than it corresponds to your task"?
The plague god answers: "But I have killed only 100, the other people die from their fear, from the fear, from the horror. And from the events that arise from this horror; I have only done my job and killed 100, the rest die from the consequences for which the people themselves are responsible, not because of me, I have set the cause, yes, but the other consequences are not my fault".
The man woke up in a sweat, took his bundle and went his way, he never came back to that city again!
What do we learn from this story?
With our attitude of mind we determine our ego, we affect our environment with it, we influence everything around us, people, animals, things.
The horror creeps from house to house, ringing all people out.
I now dismantle my doorbell, turn off my phone, and otherwise, I am no longer accessible for the horror.
Wisdom grows in quiet places!
Great wisdom has no outward form, good things take a long time, strong sounds are rarely heard.
- Lü Buwei - Chinese philosopher - 300 to 236 B.C.
Copyright: https://shaolin-rainer.de
(Please also download my app "Buddha-Blog English" from the Apple and Android stores)
Please rate us on Apple, Google, or Spotify podcast to help us promote the show
5 Minuten
Possession in Buddhism
In a secluded temple once lived a Buddhist monk full of wisdom and goodness, completely alone as a hermit. Long ago, the buildings had been erected, in the mountains, high above the city, many hours' walk from the nearest house. But life there was too arduous, the other monks moved away, only he remained, secluded, but in harmony with nature. The seasons dominated his life.
He was often visited, people traveled from far away to ask the man for advice. His reputation as an "enlightened" being was legendary, his recommendations were sought after.
Usually he received visitors in the small main hall, but one day a believer came to the door to his private room, knocked, and the monk invited him in. The people, who were so different, greeted each other in a friendly manner.
Completely astonished, the stranger looked around, there was no furniture or objects in the room, only a small mat lay on the floor, on which the monk rested.
"Master, you have no furniture, no possessions," he asked the monk.
The monk answered him, "And your furniture, your possessions, where are they"?
"But I am traveling, I don't have anything with me," the visitor replied.
The monk replied: "I am also traveling, wherever I am, I am only visiting.
Attachment to possessions, to people, to events, to status, to fame, to honor; all desire, all wishing, all hoping, all believing, this is the cause of all suffering. He who makes himself free from worldly things will be "free" for the reality of his self, of his I.
The vernacular says: "the last shirt has no pockets", nobody can take anything with him!
What is dear to us now, will rot and mold in a hundred years, probably already in a year lying unnoticed in a corner.
Happiness lies in us, not in things.
- Buddha -
Leisure is the most beautiful possession of all
- Socrates - Greek philosopher - 469 to 399 BC
Copyright: https://shaolin-rainer.de
(Please also download my app "Buddha-Blog English" from the Apple and Android stores)
Please rate us on Apple, Google, or Spotify podcast to help us promote the show
In a secluded temple once lived a Buddhist monk full of wisdom and goodness, completely alone as a hermit. Long ago, the buildings had been erected, in the mountains, high above the city, many hours' walk from the nearest house. But life there was too arduous, the other monks moved away, only he remained, secluded, but in harmony with nature. The seasons dominated his life.
He was often visited, people traveled from far away to ask the man for advice. His reputation as an "enlightened" being was legendary, his recommendations were sought after.
Usually he received visitors in the small main hall, but one day a believer came to the door to his private room, knocked, and the monk invited him in. The people, who were so different, greeted each other in a friendly manner.
Completely astonished, the stranger looked around, there was no furniture or objects in the room, only a small mat lay on the floor, on which the monk rested.
"Master, you have no furniture, no possessions," he asked the monk.
The monk answered him, "And your furniture, your possessions, where are they"?
"But I am traveling, I don't have anything with me," the visitor replied.
The monk replied: "I am also traveling, wherever I am, I am only visiting.
Attachment to possessions, to people, to events, to status, to fame, to honor; all desire, all wishing, all hoping, all believing, this is the cause of all suffering. He who makes himself free from worldly things will be "free" for the reality of his self, of his I.
The vernacular says: "the last shirt has no pockets", nobody can take anything with him!
What is dear to us now, will rot and mold in a hundred years, probably already in a year lying unnoticed in a corner.
Happiness lies in us, not in things.
- Buddha -
Leisure is the most beautiful possession of all
- Socrates - Greek philosopher - 469 to 399 BC
Copyright: https://shaolin-rainer.de
(Please also download my app "Buddha-Blog English" from the Apple and Android stores)
Please rate us on Apple, Google, or Spotify podcast to help us promote the show
6 Minuten
Karma is very individual
How people treat us is their karma, how we react is ours!
Karma is a term from Sanskrit and roughly translated means "effect". According to the concept of karma, there is causality between cause and effect, between thoughts, actions and consequences.
According to Buddhist teachings, karma is a law, not dependent on a judge, and remains immutably linked to rebirth.
Thus, every action of a human being causes a consequence for which the person acting later has to take responsibility, quasi "gets back", if not in this life, then at least in the next.
So, according to the concept of karma, it is already determined how I will fare, it is "written", so to speak. No matter how I behave now, my karma from before, as well as from previous lives will hit me, nothing I can change, no matter what I do, following my fate, events will roll over me.
Sense of a Buddhist life in the "now" and "here" thus determines the position of the course for the karma of the future, but cannot correct failures of the past.
According to Buddha, it is precisely our thoughts (as the origin of all actions) that are the cause of karma; negative causes are said to lead only to negative karma (and vice versa). The underlying information is stored in us (like in a seed), is by its nature in a karmic consciousness a part of our existence.
In our western linguistic usage we always deal very loosely with the word "karma"; if something does not go well, many people say "karma", "fate", and accept the events as God-given, giving little thought to cause and effect. The development of our stream of consciousness is not questioned, that's just the way it is, you can't change it.
Is it really like that?
Do we want to try to influence our karma consciously and actively? Maybe it would be fun, change us, improve our lives?
Personally, I believe in the premise of karma, everyone gets what he deserves. In my mind, life is predetermined, like a movie that follows a script, triggered by causality and controlled by reactions to past behavior.
My karma was to travel to the Shaolin Temple, arriving over 30 years ago where Chan (Zen) Buddhism was once born. Along the way I met people who were very familiar to me, others were not.
According to the teachings of the great Buddha, those who have experienced "enlightenment" fall out of the cycle of rebirths.
It might be worth a try, don't you think?
Reincarnation and karma form a wonderful, quite incomparable world myth, against which every other dogma must seem petty and narrow-minded.
- Richard Wagner - German composer - 1813 to 1883
Every chess game is a lesson in karma: No move without consequences.
- Andreas Tenzer - German philosopher - born 1954
Copyright: https://shaolin-rainer.de
(Please also download my app "Buddha-Blog English" from the Apple and Android stores)
Please rate us on Apple, Google, or Spotify podcast to help us promote the show
How people treat us is their karma, how we react is ours!
Karma is a term from Sanskrit and roughly translated means "effect". According to the concept of karma, there is causality between cause and effect, between thoughts, actions and consequences.
According to Buddhist teachings, karma is a law, not dependent on a judge, and remains immutably linked to rebirth.
Thus, every action of a human being causes a consequence for which the person acting later has to take responsibility, quasi "gets back", if not in this life, then at least in the next.
So, according to the concept of karma, it is already determined how I will fare, it is "written", so to speak. No matter how I behave now, my karma from before, as well as from previous lives will hit me, nothing I can change, no matter what I do, following my fate, events will roll over me.
Sense of a Buddhist life in the "now" and "here" thus determines the position of the course for the karma of the future, but cannot correct failures of the past.
According to Buddha, it is precisely our thoughts (as the origin of all actions) that are the cause of karma; negative causes are said to lead only to negative karma (and vice versa). The underlying information is stored in us (like in a seed), is by its nature in a karmic consciousness a part of our existence.
In our western linguistic usage we always deal very loosely with the word "karma"; if something does not go well, many people say "karma", "fate", and accept the events as God-given, giving little thought to cause and effect. The development of our stream of consciousness is not questioned, that's just the way it is, you can't change it.
Is it really like that?
Do we want to try to influence our karma consciously and actively? Maybe it would be fun, change us, improve our lives?
Personally, I believe in the premise of karma, everyone gets what he deserves. In my mind, life is predetermined, like a movie that follows a script, triggered by causality and controlled by reactions to past behavior.
My karma was to travel to the Shaolin Temple, arriving over 30 years ago where Chan (Zen) Buddhism was once born. Along the way I met people who were very familiar to me, others were not.
According to the teachings of the great Buddha, those who have experienced "enlightenment" fall out of the cycle of rebirths.
It might be worth a try, don't you think?
Reincarnation and karma form a wonderful, quite incomparable world myth, against which every other dogma must seem petty and narrow-minded.
- Richard Wagner - German composer - 1813 to 1883
Every chess game is a lesson in karma: No move without consequences.
- Andreas Tenzer - German philosopher - born 1954
Copyright: https://shaolin-rainer.de
(Please also download my app "Buddha-Blog English" from the Apple and Android stores)
Please rate us on Apple, Google, or Spotify podcast to help us promote the show
6 Minuten
What remains is only the tea
In a beautiful monastery once lived an "enlightened" monk, he had followed the historical Buddha and also "awakened". His disciples loved him, his wisdom was comprehensive, his teaching inspiring, his personality was unique in his circle of earth.
Among his followers was a young man of good looks, excellent education, from a good house, who also wanted to become a monk, living in the temple to learn the higher ordinances from his master, his desire was to learn.
One fine day, the monk sent the disciple to the city to buy new tea, the young man set out. When he arrived at the market, he met a beautiful woman, and they instantly fell in love.
The student went back to the temple, explained his situation to the master, the white man smiled and let him go.
The young couple married quickly, built a house by the river, had many children, life was beautiful, the harvest abundant, the fish from the river helped them to modest prosperity.
But one day their land was flooded, the village sank in the floods, the water rose higher and higher, the family climbed onto the roof, but the storm became stronger and stronger, whole trees floated on the water, and one brought the house down. First one child disappeared in the water, then the other, the husband tried to hold the children, to protect them, but everything was in vain. Finally, his wife was also washed away. The river, which had nourished them for so long, took away all his loved ones in a short time. He managed to save himself on a hill, desperate and full of grief he lamented the death in his family.
Then a figure from the shadows approached him, it was his old master.
He asked him: "Where is my tea, you have been gone so long"?
A sad story, but also full of consolation!
After a catastrophe there is only one possible way: "The return to life"!
No matter what happens, who we lose, no matter what happens, the earth continues to turn. According to Buddha, clinging, wanting, desiring is the cause of all suffering.
I especially like to drink Chinese Wu Long tea, when I am thoughtful all the better.
A murder may be forgiven, a rudeness over tea never.
- from China -
Waiter, if this is coffee, bring me tea, but if this is tea, bring me coffee.
- Abraham Lincoln - 16th President of the United States of America - 1809 to 1865
One drinks tea to forget the noise of the world
- T'ien Yiheng - Chinese scholar - 1491 to 1570
Copyright: https://shaolin-rainer.de
(Please also download my app "Buddha-Blog English" from the Apple and Android stores)
Please rate us on Apple, Google, or Spotify podcast to help us promote the show
In a beautiful monastery once lived an "enlightened" monk, he had followed the historical Buddha and also "awakened". His disciples loved him, his wisdom was comprehensive, his teaching inspiring, his personality was unique in his circle of earth.
Among his followers was a young man of good looks, excellent education, from a good house, who also wanted to become a monk, living in the temple to learn the higher ordinances from his master, his desire was to learn.
One fine day, the monk sent the disciple to the city to buy new tea, the young man set out. When he arrived at the market, he met a beautiful woman, and they instantly fell in love.
The student went back to the temple, explained his situation to the master, the white man smiled and let him go.
The young couple married quickly, built a house by the river, had many children, life was beautiful, the harvest abundant, the fish from the river helped them to modest prosperity.
But one day their land was flooded, the village sank in the floods, the water rose higher and higher, the family climbed onto the roof, but the storm became stronger and stronger, whole trees floated on the water, and one brought the house down. First one child disappeared in the water, then the other, the husband tried to hold the children, to protect them, but everything was in vain. Finally, his wife was also washed away. The river, which had nourished them for so long, took away all his loved ones in a short time. He managed to save himself on a hill, desperate and full of grief he lamented the death in his family.
Then a figure from the shadows approached him, it was his old master.
He asked him: "Where is my tea, you have been gone so long"?
A sad story, but also full of consolation!
After a catastrophe there is only one possible way: "The return to life"!
No matter what happens, who we lose, no matter what happens, the earth continues to turn. According to Buddha, clinging, wanting, desiring is the cause of all suffering.
I especially like to drink Chinese Wu Long tea, when I am thoughtful all the better.
A murder may be forgiven, a rudeness over tea never.
- from China -
Waiter, if this is coffee, bring me tea, but if this is tea, bring me coffee.
- Abraham Lincoln - 16th President of the United States of America - 1809 to 1865
One drinks tea to forget the noise of the world
- T'ien Yiheng - Chinese scholar - 1491 to 1570
Copyright: https://shaolin-rainer.de
(Please also download my app "Buddha-Blog English" from the Apple and Android stores)
Please rate us on Apple, Google, or Spotify podcast to help us promote the show
6 Minuten
The content is more important than the container
Just now I am in Shaolin Temple Europe in the office of the abbot. Here there is an extensive library of Buddhist books, many of which have Chan (Zen) as their theme, I looked at a few.
I noticed that all the books are about sutras, precepts and history, but the essence of Buddha's teaching, "enlightenment", is not, or hardly, covered.
Page by page, the places are listed where Buddha had stayed, where he was born, where he taught, where he stayed. Also his successor Bodhidharma is discussed in detail historically, his successors, up to Hui Neng, are considered in all details historically. The transmission of the (Chan) Buddhist "teaching" to Japanese, Korean and other Buddhist monks is treated in detail in terms of content.
In a book about Chan (Zen) it is described on almost 300 pages who Buddha was, views about his life are compared, but about the central topic "enlightenment" there are only a few lines. Allegedly, the historical Buddha, in deep meditation, achieved the redeeming knowledge of the middle way, and defined the four noble truths. The statement can only come from an author who has not experienced "enlightenment", but treats the subject of "Buddhism" like a historian, and also does not take "awakening" seriously.
The reason probably also lies in the fact that everybody copies from everybody.
Buddha's way to "enlightenment" as the core statement of Buddhism, however, cannot be treated separately from his life.
Buddha reached "awakening" after he had failed completely. He meditated for 6 years to achieve something that was unknown to him in the early days. His various meditations were aimed at the knowledge of the essence of all things, however, at that time, even the historical Buddha was like a blind man talking about color.
When he had completely given up the search, failed and empty, all desires, imagination and valuations fell away from him, only then Buddha experienced the "awakening".
"Enlightenment" is not a physical phenomenon, but a spiritual one.
As with Buddha, meditation can certainly accompany your path, but "enlightenment" presupposes the cognitive component of realization, namely letting go of everything, becoming completely empty.
If now the most different authors write about Buddha, Bodhidharma and Chan, without having attained realization themselves, this is WRONG. Thus seekers are led into the completely wrong direction. Buddha is not only a historical personality whose life can be considered chronologically, but a spiritual teacher whose teaching constitutes his life.
Without having experienced "enlightenment", there should be no texts on Buddhism.
If after the first snowfall someone paves the way others will follow the path!
WHO KNOWS NOTHING, MUST BELIEVE EVERYTHING
- MARIE FREIFRAU EBNER VON ESCHENBACH - AUSTRIAN STORYTELLER - 1830 TO 1916
Copyright: https://shaolin-rainer.de
(Please also download my app "Buddha-Blog English" from the Apple and Android stores)
Please rate us on Apple, Google, or Spotify podcast to help us promote the show
Just now I am in Shaolin Temple Europe in the office of the abbot. Here there is an extensive library of Buddhist books, many of which have Chan (Zen) as their theme, I looked at a few.
I noticed that all the books are about sutras, precepts and history, but the essence of Buddha's teaching, "enlightenment", is not, or hardly, covered.
Page by page, the places are listed where Buddha had stayed, where he was born, where he taught, where he stayed. Also his successor Bodhidharma is discussed in detail historically, his successors, up to Hui Neng, are considered in all details historically. The transmission of the (Chan) Buddhist "teaching" to Japanese, Korean and other Buddhist monks is treated in detail in terms of content.
In a book about Chan (Zen) it is described on almost 300 pages who Buddha was, views about his life are compared, but about the central topic "enlightenment" there are only a few lines. Allegedly, the historical Buddha, in deep meditation, achieved the redeeming knowledge of the middle way, and defined the four noble truths. The statement can only come from an author who has not experienced "enlightenment", but treats the subject of "Buddhism" like a historian, and also does not take "awakening" seriously.
The reason probably also lies in the fact that everybody copies from everybody.
Buddha's way to "enlightenment" as the core statement of Buddhism, however, cannot be treated separately from his life.
Buddha reached "awakening" after he had failed completely. He meditated for 6 years to achieve something that was unknown to him in the early days. His various meditations were aimed at the knowledge of the essence of all things, however, at that time, even the historical Buddha was like a blind man talking about color.
When he had completely given up the search, failed and empty, all desires, imagination and valuations fell away from him, only then Buddha experienced the "awakening".
"Enlightenment" is not a physical phenomenon, but a spiritual one.
As with Buddha, meditation can certainly accompany your path, but "enlightenment" presupposes the cognitive component of realization, namely letting go of everything, becoming completely empty.
If now the most different authors write about Buddha, Bodhidharma and Chan, without having attained realization themselves, this is WRONG. Thus seekers are led into the completely wrong direction. Buddha is not only a historical personality whose life can be considered chronologically, but a spiritual teacher whose teaching constitutes his life.
Without having experienced "enlightenment", there should be no texts on Buddhism.
If after the first snowfall someone paves the way others will follow the path!
WHO KNOWS NOTHING, MUST BELIEVE EVERYTHING
- MARIE FREIFRAU EBNER VON ESCHENBACH - AUSTRIAN STORYTELLER - 1830 TO 1916
Copyright: https://shaolin-rainer.de
(Please also download my app "Buddha-Blog English" from the Apple and Android stores)
Please rate us on Apple, Google, or Spotify podcast to help us promote the show
8 Minuten
Is life just a dream?
The text "Is life only a dream?" appeared on 3.4.2020 on my blog, here it goes to the original click.
Especially to this text I have received many letters, also there are readers (virtual students), who always thematize this text, because it occupies them very much. Now a reader has revised this text and added his own remarks, which is why I publish his copy here (uncommented).
Is life only a dream? (With comments from the reader Deniz U.)
Is life only a dream?
Can Shaolin Rainer be trusted?
Could it be that life is just a dream? Thoughts trapped in darkness.
Could we wake up from the dream? Why do we not realize that we are asleep?
Significant Buddhist texts suggest this. But does it make sense to you?
Important Chan masters repeatedly point to the surreality of thought. The Anatman teaching of Buddha makes sense.
It raises the question, "Who am I"?
Where do I find light?
"Is this my body or am I my body"? Illusory words?
And if it is "my body", where am I? Not in the light, but why not?
Really these questions will understand only people who are "awakened", therefore they blow like the wind.
Because they know the reality, not the dream that we perceive as reality. We need to connect with the Buddha, the Dharma and the Sangha.
Life is like a "sitcom," a projection of your own mind. Deep inside you know it.
The script and actors are set, episode after episode is shot. Unfortunately, compassion and wisdom are missing.
Love, hate, greed and delusion are the usual ingredients of a good television show. Without the eightfold path, it has no level.
Our life is written, we can do little or nothing about it. Only through Buddha's teaching, so try it and you will be surprised. And later you will enjoy the pathless path.
Only in the present, in the here and now, can we truly love
- Buddha - honorary name of Siddharta Gautama - 560 to 480 before the year zero
Looking and seeming is only foam, nothing but a dream within a dream!
- Edgar Allan Poe - US journalist, poet and literary critic - 1809 to 1849
Copyright: https://shaolin-rainer.de
(Please also download my app "Buddha-Blog English" from the Apple and Android stores)
Please rate us on Apple, Google, or Spotify podcast to help us promote the show
The text "Is life only a dream?" appeared on 3.4.2020 on my blog, here it goes to the original click.
Especially to this text I have received many letters, also there are readers (virtual students), who always thematize this text, because it occupies them very much. Now a reader has revised this text and added his own remarks, which is why I publish his copy here (uncommented).
Is life only a dream? (With comments from the reader Deniz U.)
Is life only a dream?
Can Shaolin Rainer be trusted?
Could it be that life is just a dream? Thoughts trapped in darkness.
Could we wake up from the dream? Why do we not realize that we are asleep?
Significant Buddhist texts suggest this. But does it make sense to you?
Important Chan masters repeatedly point to the surreality of thought. The Anatman teaching of Buddha makes sense.
It raises the question, "Who am I"?
Where do I find light?
"Is this my body or am I my body"? Illusory words?
And if it is "my body", where am I? Not in the light, but why not?
Really these questions will understand only people who are "awakened", therefore they blow like the wind.
Because they know the reality, not the dream that we perceive as reality. We need to connect with the Buddha, the Dharma and the Sangha.
Life is like a "sitcom," a projection of your own mind. Deep inside you know it.
The script and actors are set, episode after episode is shot. Unfortunately, compassion and wisdom are missing.
Love, hate, greed and delusion are the usual ingredients of a good television show. Without the eightfold path, it has no level.
Our life is written, we can do little or nothing about it. Only through Buddha's teaching, so try it and you will be surprised. And later you will enjoy the pathless path.
Only in the present, in the here and now, can we truly love
- Buddha - honorary name of Siddharta Gautama - 560 to 480 before the year zero
Looking and seeming is only foam, nothing but a dream within a dream!
- Edgar Allan Poe - US journalist, poet and literary critic - 1809 to 1849
Copyright: https://shaolin-rainer.de
(Please also download my app "Buddha-Blog English" from the Apple and Android stores)
Please rate us on Apple, Google, or Spotify podcast to help us promote the show
6 Minuten
Buddhism and the cup of tea
The teachings of Buddha explained in a different way
There is a legend about a wise monk who was often visited and was much sought after as an advisor.
One day a learned man came to learn from him.
The monk asked him if he was exhausted from his journey and would like some tea, and the visitor gladly agreed.
The two sat down at a tea table, the monk heated water, prepared the tea, put it in the pot, brewed it hot and started to fill the visitor's cup. But even when the cup was full, the monk continued to pour, the tea overflowed, even spread on the floor. The guest said, "The cup is full, enough," to which the monk replied, "You are like a full teacup, full of knowledge, full of faith, full of your opinion, you have come to me with preconceived notions, full of half-knowledge, unable to learn anything new, unable to listen at all. Before they can learn from me they must first become empty, otherwise they are like this tea"'.
All people today have almost unlimited access to knowledge, to education, to information. They think they know everything, they can build complex machines, fly to the moon, send probes far into space, every corner of the earth is measured, mapped, studied.
But they know nothing about themselves, about their own ego, the self that underlies everything, they deal with thousands of things, but their own personality is not questioned.
Why not, actually? What keeps people from doing this, why don't they go "into themselves", use their potential more, don't arrive at themselves?
Quite simply: Because they do not want it!
They are afraid of what they might find, what the true teaching might be.
The basic structure of our life is simple: "Everything is transient", and therefore a preoccupation with human destiny would be painful, unattractive, frightening.
It is so much easier to distract oneself, to get high, to take refuge in illusions, to be entertained, to maintain a framework of illusions in order not to have to face the truth.
If this is enough for you, you can live like this, for me it is not an option.
Follow the Buddha's example, free your container from useless things. And then fill it with important things.
You can improve the world by changing yourself.
Is your cup already empty?
Tea! Bless the everyday afternoon tea!
- Agatha Christie - English mystery writer - 1890 to 1976
Lady Nancy Astor: If you were my husband, I would put poison in your tea! Winston Churchill: And if you were my wife, I would drink this tea!
- Winston Churchill - British statesman of the 20th century - 1874 to 1965
The only English patients I have ever met who refused tea have been typhoid cases; and the first sign that they were getting well was their craving for tea
- Florence Nightingale - British nurse and inventor of the war hospital - 1820 to 1910
Copyright: https://shaolin-rainer.de
(Please also download my app "Buddha-Blog English" from the Apple and Android stores)
Please rate us on Apple, Google, or Spotify podcast to help us promote the show
The teachings of Buddha explained in a different way
There is a legend about a wise monk who was often visited and was much sought after as an advisor.
One day a learned man came to learn from him.
The monk asked him if he was exhausted from his journey and would like some tea, and the visitor gladly agreed.
The two sat down at a tea table, the monk heated water, prepared the tea, put it in the pot, brewed it hot and started to fill the visitor's cup. But even when the cup was full, the monk continued to pour, the tea overflowed, even spread on the floor. The guest said, "The cup is full, enough," to which the monk replied, "You are like a full teacup, full of knowledge, full of faith, full of your opinion, you have come to me with preconceived notions, full of half-knowledge, unable to learn anything new, unable to listen at all. Before they can learn from me they must first become empty, otherwise they are like this tea"'.
All people today have almost unlimited access to knowledge, to education, to information. They think they know everything, they can build complex machines, fly to the moon, send probes far into space, every corner of the earth is measured, mapped, studied.
But they know nothing about themselves, about their own ego, the self that underlies everything, they deal with thousands of things, but their own personality is not questioned.
Why not, actually? What keeps people from doing this, why don't they go "into themselves", use their potential more, don't arrive at themselves?
Quite simply: Because they do not want it!
They are afraid of what they might find, what the true teaching might be.
The basic structure of our life is simple: "Everything is transient", and therefore a preoccupation with human destiny would be painful, unattractive, frightening.
It is so much easier to distract oneself, to get high, to take refuge in illusions, to be entertained, to maintain a framework of illusions in order not to have to face the truth.
If this is enough for you, you can live like this, for me it is not an option.
Follow the Buddha's example, free your container from useless things. And then fill it with important things.
You can improve the world by changing yourself.
Is your cup already empty?
Tea! Bless the everyday afternoon tea!
- Agatha Christie - English mystery writer - 1890 to 1976
Lady Nancy Astor: If you were my husband, I would put poison in your tea! Winston Churchill: And if you were my wife, I would drink this tea!
- Winston Churchill - British statesman of the 20th century - 1874 to 1965
The only English patients I have ever met who refused tea have been typhoid cases; and the first sign that they were getting well was their craving for tea
- Florence Nightingale - British nurse and inventor of the war hospital - 1820 to 1910
Copyright: https://shaolin-rainer.de
(Please also download my app "Buddha-Blog English" from the Apple and Android stores)
Please rate us on Apple, Google, or Spotify podcast to help us promote the show
5 Minuten
Man in the mirror
Stand in front of the mirror, preferably naked, alone, without spectators, in a quiet chamber.
Do you "hear" what your reflection says to you?
You do not have to stand before the judgment of your fellow human beings; neither do you have to ask for the opinion of your spouse, friend or children. Only the judgment of your own self is what counts, which person is looking at you from the mirror?
Can you be "open and honest" with yourself, or can you not?
What kind of person are you, are you short or tall, fat or thin, old or young? How do you rate your appearance? And is what you see also what you could achieve, maybe with some sports, discipline and healthy diet, without alcohol?
And the inner values that you can see only in the eyes? What do you see, can you "look yourself in the eye"?
You should be completely honest with yourself, don't lie to yourself, but don't be too hard on yourself despite your "deficits", see the positive qualities, the good sides, but also recognize fairly where it is still missing, what can and must be "better".
In any case, you see in the mirror the only person who is responsible for your life, to blame others for anything makes no sense!
It does not help to sugarcoat, there is no "fits already" in front of the mirror, only a clear confrontation with your own self, with your self can help.
Now ask yourself two questions:
Who am I?
Where do I want to go?
Listen to the person in the mirror, he will become your best friend!
You can repeat this exercise every day, whenever you feel insecure, a self-reflection can help you to find your center, to find the way of Buddha again!
There are also mirrors in which you can recognize what you are missing.
- Friedrich Hebbel - German playwright - 1813 to 1863
A book is a mirror, if a monkey looks into it, no apostle can look out of it.
- Georg Christoph Lichtenberg - German physicist - 1742- 1799
Copyright: https://shaolin-rainer.de
(Please also download my app "Buddha-Blog English" from the Apple and Android stores)
Please rate us on Apple, Google, or Spotify podcast to help us promote the show
Stand in front of the mirror, preferably naked, alone, without spectators, in a quiet chamber.
Do you "hear" what your reflection says to you?
You do not have to stand before the judgment of your fellow human beings; neither do you have to ask for the opinion of your spouse, friend or children. Only the judgment of your own self is what counts, which person is looking at you from the mirror?
Can you be "open and honest" with yourself, or can you not?
What kind of person are you, are you short or tall, fat or thin, old or young? How do you rate your appearance? And is what you see also what you could achieve, maybe with some sports, discipline and healthy diet, without alcohol?
And the inner values that you can see only in the eyes? What do you see, can you "look yourself in the eye"?
You should be completely honest with yourself, don't lie to yourself, but don't be too hard on yourself despite your "deficits", see the positive qualities, the good sides, but also recognize fairly where it is still missing, what can and must be "better".
In any case, you see in the mirror the only person who is responsible for your life, to blame others for anything makes no sense!
It does not help to sugarcoat, there is no "fits already" in front of the mirror, only a clear confrontation with your own self, with your self can help.
Now ask yourself two questions:
Who am I?
Where do I want to go?
Listen to the person in the mirror, he will become your best friend!
You can repeat this exercise every day, whenever you feel insecure, a self-reflection can help you to find your center, to find the way of Buddha again!
There are also mirrors in which you can recognize what you are missing.
- Friedrich Hebbel - German playwright - 1813 to 1863
A book is a mirror, if a monkey looks into it, no apostle can look out of it.
- Georg Christoph Lichtenberg - German physicist - 1742- 1799
Copyright: https://shaolin-rainer.de
(Please also download my app "Buddha-Blog English" from the Apple and Android stores)
Please rate us on Apple, Google, or Spotify podcast to help us promote the show
6 Minuten
About the meaning of life
The question about the meaning of life is as old as human thinking itself.
Who am I, where do we come from, is there a God, what is it all about, where are we going!
Buddhists see the meaning of life quite differently than followers of monotheistic religions. According to the teachings of the historical Buddha, enlightenment is the goal of all striving. And enlightenment is also the theme of this blog.
The enlightened people I know do not ask questions about the meaning (or nonsense) of life, they "know". Then when enlightened people teach about the Dharma questions are often asked of them about life and the universal connections. The answers are usually similar: "embark on the journey to enlightenment and see for yourself"!
What is their purpose in life, what (or who) are you living for right now? And have their motivations ever changed? Do you live for yourself, or do you live for your family, for your work, or for your hobby?
Can you imagine choosing "enlightenment" as the meaning of life?
Buddha taught in a sanga in India for over 40 years, his topic was "enlightenment". For him, the meaning of life was awakening itself, everything revolved around "enlightenment" in his community.
Now there is always the question of how, how to achieve "enlightenment"?
At the beginning of the journey is the decision to the goal to strive for "awakening".
In my opinion, the journey to "enlightenment" accompanied by frequent Dharma talks is a much easier undertaking. A good Chan (Zen) master can, as with an onion, remove one layer of the traveler's old personality after another, bring the subject to the forefront again and again, assist in reaching the goal.
According to Buddha, emptiness is form, and form is emptiness.
If the room was not empty I could not put furniture, could I?
If I am not "empty" no "enlightenment" can come into my life.
In order to become empty, the ego must first be silenced so that the new can enter our mind.
It is important to always turn our thoughts positively towards the goal, to "push away" negative feelings.
The decision to travel towards "enlightenment" is more important than any other thoughts we have ever had. Only awakened we will find peace.
Are you ready?
Everybody fights against other things ... I sometimes fight with my own heart.
- Tupac Shakur - US rap musician - 1971 to 1996
I've always believed that the opposite of love is not hate, but indifference. The opposite of faith is not arrogance, but indifference. The opposite of hope is not despair, it is indifference. Indifference is not the beginning of a process, it is the end of a process.
- Elie Wiesel - US writer and Holocaust survivor - 1928 to 2016
See to it that no one captures you through philosophy and empty deceit, based on the doctrine of men and on the powers of the world, and not on Christ.
- Paul of Tarsus - Apostle and missionary of early Christianity - 5 to 67
Copyright: https://shaolin-rainer.de
(Please also download my app "Buddha-Blog English" from the Apple and Android stores)
Please rate us on Apple, Google, or Spotify podcast to help us promote the show
The question about the meaning of life is as old as human thinking itself.
Who am I, where do we come from, is there a God, what is it all about, where are we going!
Buddhists see the meaning of life quite differently than followers of monotheistic religions. According to the teachings of the historical Buddha, enlightenment is the goal of all striving. And enlightenment is also the theme of this blog.
The enlightened people I know do not ask questions about the meaning (or nonsense) of life, they "know". Then when enlightened people teach about the Dharma questions are often asked of them about life and the universal connections. The answers are usually similar: "embark on the journey to enlightenment and see for yourself"!
What is their purpose in life, what (or who) are you living for right now? And have their motivations ever changed? Do you live for yourself, or do you live for your family, for your work, or for your hobby?
Can you imagine choosing "enlightenment" as the meaning of life?
Buddha taught in a sanga in India for over 40 years, his topic was "enlightenment". For him, the meaning of life was awakening itself, everything revolved around "enlightenment" in his community.
Now there is always the question of how, how to achieve "enlightenment"?
At the beginning of the journey is the decision to the goal to strive for "awakening".
In my opinion, the journey to "enlightenment" accompanied by frequent Dharma talks is a much easier undertaking. A good Chan (Zen) master can, as with an onion, remove one layer of the traveler's old personality after another, bring the subject to the forefront again and again, assist in reaching the goal.
According to Buddha, emptiness is form, and form is emptiness.
If the room was not empty I could not put furniture, could I?
If I am not "empty" no "enlightenment" can come into my life.
In order to become empty, the ego must first be silenced so that the new can enter our mind.
It is important to always turn our thoughts positively towards the goal, to "push away" negative feelings.
The decision to travel towards "enlightenment" is more important than any other thoughts we have ever had. Only awakened we will find peace.
Are you ready?
Everybody fights against other things ... I sometimes fight with my own heart.
- Tupac Shakur - US rap musician - 1971 to 1996
I've always believed that the opposite of love is not hate, but indifference. The opposite of faith is not arrogance, but indifference. The opposite of hope is not despair, it is indifference. Indifference is not the beginning of a process, it is the end of a process.
- Elie Wiesel - US writer and Holocaust survivor - 1928 to 2016
See to it that no one captures you through philosophy and empty deceit, based on the doctrine of men and on the powers of the world, and not on Christ.
- Paul of Tarsus - Apostle and missionary of early Christianity - 5 to 67
Copyright: https://shaolin-rainer.de
(Please also download my app "Buddha-Blog English" from the Apple and Android stores)
Please rate us on Apple, Google, or Spotify podcast to help us promote the show
6 Minuten
Do we need to change?
"Everyone wants to change the world, but no one wants to change himself."
Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy - Russian writer (1828-1910)
In this regard, the first step towards a Buddhist lifestyle involves a willingness to work on oneself, to change, to develop a new outlook.
However, for a variety of reasons, people have great fears of all coming changes; innovations present many with almost insurmountable challenges. The familiar, however, promises security, continuity, one does not have to worry about anything, everything seems familiar, the English say: "Business as usual"!
Since the beginning of the time, however, everything changes, the earth has already completely reshaped its face many times. Here, where I live today, was about 380 million years ago a big ocean, continents had formed anew, Germany lay at that time at the equator. Everything is in upheaval, unprecedented, unbelievable events with great effects are constantly coming, people are born, live and die, where today a big house stands maybe in the future a beautiful lake will arise, who knows what the future will bring?
If we want to change something we must FIRST change ourselves. We have to refrain from clinging to people, things and circumstances. Then, from our besipiel, we can influence our environment, through the power of our example, through our actions, also through our words.
Do you know the sentence of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe:
"The message I hear well, alone I lack faith"?
If we change, if we live as the great Buddha showed us, then the people around us will begin to believe in us, to take us seriously.
Preaching water and drinking wine is not a message, but an illusion, "don't do like I do, do like I say" does not work. "Sky high - saddened to death" can only end in chaos, euphoria replaced by depression, an escape from reality.
And if we start to live according to the teachings of Buddha we will lead a better life, many useless things will fall away from us, we will achieve peace and quiet, a life in the middle.
Therefore, there is only one question: Do we want to change, or continue as before?
I, for one, am guided by the words of Buddha.
Who does not appreciate life, does not deserve it
- Leonardo da Vinci - Universal genius - Italian painter, sculptor, architect, anatomist, mechanic, engineer and natural philosopher - 1452 to 1519
Copyright: https://shaolin-rainer.de
(Please also download my app "Buddha-Blog English" from the Apple and Android stores)
Please rate us on Apple, Google, or Spotify podcast to help us promote the show
"Everyone wants to change the world, but no one wants to change himself."
Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy - Russian writer (1828-1910)
In this regard, the first step towards a Buddhist lifestyle involves a willingness to work on oneself, to change, to develop a new outlook.
However, for a variety of reasons, people have great fears of all coming changes; innovations present many with almost insurmountable challenges. The familiar, however, promises security, continuity, one does not have to worry about anything, everything seems familiar, the English say: "Business as usual"!
Since the beginning of the time, however, everything changes, the earth has already completely reshaped its face many times. Here, where I live today, was about 380 million years ago a big ocean, continents had formed anew, Germany lay at that time at the equator. Everything is in upheaval, unprecedented, unbelievable events with great effects are constantly coming, people are born, live and die, where today a big house stands maybe in the future a beautiful lake will arise, who knows what the future will bring?
If we want to change something we must FIRST change ourselves. We have to refrain from clinging to people, things and circumstances. Then, from our besipiel, we can influence our environment, through the power of our example, through our actions, also through our words.
Do you know the sentence of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe:
"The message I hear well, alone I lack faith"?
If we change, if we live as the great Buddha showed us, then the people around us will begin to believe in us, to take us seriously.
Preaching water and drinking wine is not a message, but an illusion, "don't do like I do, do like I say" does not work. "Sky high - saddened to death" can only end in chaos, euphoria replaced by depression, an escape from reality.
And if we start to live according to the teachings of Buddha we will lead a better life, many useless things will fall away from us, we will achieve peace and quiet, a life in the middle.
Therefore, there is only one question: Do we want to change, or continue as before?
I, for one, am guided by the words of Buddha.
Who does not appreciate life, does not deserve it
- Leonardo da Vinci - Universal genius - Italian painter, sculptor, architect, anatomist, mechanic, engineer and natural philosopher - 1452 to 1519
Copyright: https://shaolin-rainer.de
(Please also download my app "Buddha-Blog English" from the Apple and Android stores)
Please rate us on Apple, Google, or Spotify podcast to help us promote the show
7 Minuten
Buddhism as a powerful idea
"Nothing in the world is so powerful as an idea whose time has come."
- Victor Hugo - French writer (1802-1885)
Ideas have often completely changed our world. Democracy, communism, humanism, human rights movements, revolutions, religions. Guiding principles came, some stayed, many passed away again.
Depending on the spirit of the times, on different interests, on profit, greed and respective advantages, on common sense, on the search for spirituality, when the time was right thoughts turned society upside down, ideas changed the world.
But not only the idea is important, the ideal must also be "at the turn", must fall on a fertile earth to be able to develop, similar to a seed, the conditions must be favorable for the development also with guiding principles.
Few ideas have existed for a long time, mostly they were like shooting stars in the firmament, shone briefly and then burned out.
One guiding principle that has remained current over the millennia are the teachings of Buddha. He lived his life 2500 years ago and left us his legacy, which has touched and guided millions (if not billions) of people over time.
In contrast to the great world religions, Buddhism is not about the worship of a "higher power", but about the occupation of the practitioner with his or her self, i.e. not a "he should fix it", but a "I can change everything", not a dialogue with a god, but a comprehensive confrontation with myself, with my existence.
Thereby the responsibility is not given to a creator, not left to the benevolence of the gods, but I AM RESPONSIBLE FOR MYSELF. This is of course much more uncomfortable than calling upon a "Lord", it presupposes reflection and action, not silent waiting for better times, but activity, action and deed.
Also the history of Buddhism was changeable over the centuries, influenced by fashions, developments, different masterminds, the respective spirit of the time. Sometimes the philosophy of Buddha was almost lost, at other epochs many people adhered to his worldview, but his words were always present, "Buddha" is still a term for every child today. Many Europeans can do little with terms such as karma, rebirth and enlightenment, but they instinctively feel that there "might be something to his statements, to his legacy". According to various surveys, about 20 percent of Europeans have adopted Buddhism as a kind of "second religion"; many simply enjoy the image of the holy man, they feel calm and peaceful at the sight of his statues.
Therefore, the question arises in my mind: Has the time come (especially in the "western world") for Buddhism?
I say YES
This blog is translated into more than 100 languages, a software now makes this site "available" even on the other side of the world, within only a short time now many people read this website daily.
The basis of Buddha's teachings is "enlightenment", a reflection on existence (being there), on the inner state.
Only reading about Buddhism does not bring us much further, the willingness to also "engage" with the philosophy must be at the beginning of the journey to awakening.
Times are hard. This is a good occasion to "go within", to take the first step.
At the beginning of the path, a question arises: "Who am I"?
Do you want to walk this path?
Copyright: https://shaolin-rainer.de
(Please also download my app "Buddha-Blog English" from the Apple and Android stores)
Please rate us on Apple, Google, or Spotify podcast to help us promote the show
"Nothing in the world is so powerful as an idea whose time has come."
- Victor Hugo - French writer (1802-1885)
Ideas have often completely changed our world. Democracy, communism, humanism, human rights movements, revolutions, religions. Guiding principles came, some stayed, many passed away again.
Depending on the spirit of the times, on different interests, on profit, greed and respective advantages, on common sense, on the search for spirituality, when the time was right thoughts turned society upside down, ideas changed the world.
But not only the idea is important, the ideal must also be "at the turn", must fall on a fertile earth to be able to develop, similar to a seed, the conditions must be favorable for the development also with guiding principles.
Few ideas have existed for a long time, mostly they were like shooting stars in the firmament, shone briefly and then burned out.
One guiding principle that has remained current over the millennia are the teachings of Buddha. He lived his life 2500 years ago and left us his legacy, which has touched and guided millions (if not billions) of people over time.
In contrast to the great world religions, Buddhism is not about the worship of a "higher power", but about the occupation of the practitioner with his or her self, i.e. not a "he should fix it", but a "I can change everything", not a dialogue with a god, but a comprehensive confrontation with myself, with my existence.
Thereby the responsibility is not given to a creator, not left to the benevolence of the gods, but I AM RESPONSIBLE FOR MYSELF. This is of course much more uncomfortable than calling upon a "Lord", it presupposes reflection and action, not silent waiting for better times, but activity, action and deed.
Also the history of Buddhism was changeable over the centuries, influenced by fashions, developments, different masterminds, the respective spirit of the time. Sometimes the philosophy of Buddha was almost lost, at other epochs many people adhered to his worldview, but his words were always present, "Buddha" is still a term for every child today. Many Europeans can do little with terms such as karma, rebirth and enlightenment, but they instinctively feel that there "might be something to his statements, to his legacy". According to various surveys, about 20 percent of Europeans have adopted Buddhism as a kind of "second religion"; many simply enjoy the image of the holy man, they feel calm and peaceful at the sight of his statues.
Therefore, the question arises in my mind: Has the time come (especially in the "western world") for Buddhism?
I say YES
This blog is translated into more than 100 languages, a software now makes this site "available" even on the other side of the world, within only a short time now many people read this website daily.
The basis of Buddha's teachings is "enlightenment", a reflection on existence (being there), on the inner state.
Only reading about Buddhism does not bring us much further, the willingness to also "engage" with the philosophy must be at the beginning of the journey to awakening.
Times are hard. This is a good occasion to "go within", to take the first step.
At the beginning of the path, a question arises: "Who am I"?
Do you want to walk this path?
Copyright: https://shaolin-rainer.de
(Please also download my app "Buddha-Blog English" from the Apple and Android stores)
Please rate us on Apple, Google, or Spotify podcast to help us promote the show
5 Minuten
The fear of the future
We are always worrying about the future, making "a head", rolling problems, seeing all kinds of things coming our way. We lie awake for nights on end, unable to sleep, "problems" circling through our minds over and over again.
Do you know this kind of thoughts?
Surely, all people have a similar pattern, it is controlled by our ego, the little devil on our shoulder whispers the most terrible horror scenarios to us.
Many people fall into crises as a result, the problems take on a life of their own, drive us "mad".
Can you remember your last crisis? And the thoughts you had during it? About the terrible situations that your ego designed for you?
And did the situation come about as you had imagined it in your thoughts?
Probably not!
Mostly it comes then completely differently than we have imagined it, the situation, which we have feared, dissolves to 99% completely differently, new circumstances meet, affect the happening, everything changes, everything is in motion.
And what did we "make a head" for then, what did these thoughts bring us? Nothing!
I have friends who go through such situations "as real" in advance, the thoughts drive them before them, the ego sets up a slaughter in their heads.
But what to do, how to deal with fears about the future?
First, you deal with your own ego, try to observe the flow of thoughts, then control it, thus silencing the ego.
After that, when there is some calm, one deals with awakening, with enlightenment, do I want to get out of the eternal cycle of thoughts?
My blog is about the journey to enlightenment.
Enlightenment is the core statement of the historical Buddha.
Are you interested in "enlightenment"?
Copyright: https://shaolin-rainer.de
(Please also download my app "Buddha-Blog English" from the Apple and Android stores)
Please rate us on Apple, Google, or Spotify podcast to help us promote the show
We are always worrying about the future, making "a head", rolling problems, seeing all kinds of things coming our way. We lie awake for nights on end, unable to sleep, "problems" circling through our minds over and over again.
Do you know this kind of thoughts?
Surely, all people have a similar pattern, it is controlled by our ego, the little devil on our shoulder whispers the most terrible horror scenarios to us.
Many people fall into crises as a result, the problems take on a life of their own, drive us "mad".
Can you remember your last crisis? And the thoughts you had during it? About the terrible situations that your ego designed for you?
And did the situation come about as you had imagined it in your thoughts?
Probably not!
Mostly it comes then completely differently than we have imagined it, the situation, which we have feared, dissolves to 99% completely differently, new circumstances meet, affect the happening, everything changes, everything is in motion.
And what did we "make a head" for then, what did these thoughts bring us? Nothing!
I have friends who go through such situations "as real" in advance, the thoughts drive them before them, the ego sets up a slaughter in their heads.
But what to do, how to deal with fears about the future?
First, you deal with your own ego, try to observe the flow of thoughts, then control it, thus silencing the ego.
After that, when there is some calm, one deals with awakening, with enlightenment, do I want to get out of the eternal cycle of thoughts?
My blog is about the journey to enlightenment.
Enlightenment is the core statement of the historical Buddha.
Are you interested in "enlightenment"?
Copyright: https://shaolin-rainer.de
(Please also download my app "Buddha-Blog English" from the Apple and Android stores)
Please rate us on Apple, Google, or Spotify podcast to help us promote the show
5 Minuten
Lonely together
What strange times we have, horror has entered our homes, "the Walking Dead" has become reality.
Just as "Rick Grimes" from the horror series wakes up in an apocalyptic world, we have arrived in a pandemic, overnight.
Does anyone know the movie "Contagion"? Here the scenario of a worldwide threat by a virus is thematized, parts of the script show 1to1 today's situation. The disintegration of the community is vividly depicted, it is partly a matter of naked survival.
As my father used to say, "Son, life is perilous"!
Curfews, no-contact orders, HomeOffice, StayHome, Living RoomFestival, Lockdown, where is it all going? Many people are now sitting at home alone, HomeAlone, what a terrible life!
How do we get out of loneliness?
Loneliness is a terrible sensation, you feel alone and abandoned, separated from contacts, without connection. For a while it is certainly partly positive to be isolated, to be able to organize one's thoughts, but in the long run?
Through Chan-(Zen)Buddhism we can realize that we are connected with all things and existences, everything is connected with everything, our conditioned consciousness just plays a role, has created an identity out of our ego.
Loneliness is a good occasion to question these roles, to check the old self-identification, to do a detachment from our ego.
Buddha showed us the way, we have to walk it ourselves!
Do you still know the party polonaise, the dance in rows and ranks? Just walk "one behind the other", in a distance of 2 meters, without "touching". The "march of the lonely", so to speak.
Being lonely together can be a completely new experience.
Loneliness and the feeling of being unwanted is the worst poverty
- Mother Teresa - Indian nun - 1910 to 1997
Copyright: https://shaolin-rainer.de
(Please also download my app "Buddha-Blog English" from the Apple and Android stores)
Please rate us on Apple, Google, or Spotify podcast to help us promote the show
What strange times we have, horror has entered our homes, "the Walking Dead" has become reality.
Just as "Rick Grimes" from the horror series wakes up in an apocalyptic world, we have arrived in a pandemic, overnight.
Does anyone know the movie "Contagion"? Here the scenario of a worldwide threat by a virus is thematized, parts of the script show 1to1 today's situation. The disintegration of the community is vividly depicted, it is partly a matter of naked survival.
As my father used to say, "Son, life is perilous"!
Curfews, no-contact orders, HomeOffice, StayHome, Living RoomFestival, Lockdown, where is it all going? Many people are now sitting at home alone, HomeAlone, what a terrible life!
How do we get out of loneliness?
Loneliness is a terrible sensation, you feel alone and abandoned, separated from contacts, without connection. For a while it is certainly partly positive to be isolated, to be able to organize one's thoughts, but in the long run?
Through Chan-(Zen)Buddhism we can realize that we are connected with all things and existences, everything is connected with everything, our conditioned consciousness just plays a role, has created an identity out of our ego.
Loneliness is a good occasion to question these roles, to check the old self-identification, to do a detachment from our ego.
Buddha showed us the way, we have to walk it ourselves!
Do you still know the party polonaise, the dance in rows and ranks? Just walk "one behind the other", in a distance of 2 meters, without "touching". The "march of the lonely", so to speak.
Being lonely together can be a completely new experience.
Loneliness and the feeling of being unwanted is the worst poverty
- Mother Teresa - Indian nun - 1910 to 1997
Copyright: https://shaolin-rainer.de
(Please also download my app "Buddha-Blog English" from the Apple and Android stores)
Please rate us on Apple, Google, or Spotify podcast to help us promote the show
5 Minuten
David and Goliath
Who does not know the story of David, the conqueror Goliath.
The little one beats the big one, anything is possible!
In nature, David often beats Goliath, a small virus knocks down a big man; ants transport an elephant in small pieces, and a small seed becomes a huge tree.
Buddha taught us not to judge, not to distinguish in "good" or "bad", "small" or "big", not to "stick" a label on people or things.
The "little" boy next door may one day become the president, the "little" daughter of my friend the discoverer of an important substance; "little" does not always remain "little", and "big" may be over tomorrow.
The factor of time makes everything the same, weakness becomes strength, strength expires, just as everything and everyone will crumble to dust.
So it is with the victories, they are short-lived, the part in which the hero grows old, the cinema doesn't show that, how he falls ill, loses his teeth, can no longer hold his liquids, and finally dies in pain, the end must always be "happy", otherwise no one would buy a movie ticket.
So also the victory of David is only a story, nothing is left, not him, not his opponent, not the spectators of that time, only a "story" penetrates from a remote corner of the universe to our ear, echoes briefly in the memory, yes, everything is just possible.
Would it be possible to draw a lesson from the story of David and Goliath for our world today?
YES, it is possible!
No war has ever been worthwhile. Every battle, every fight, every quarrel, seen in the light of time, was unimportant, senseless, brought only suffering.
If you divide people into "small" and "big" it is a mistake; also "fat" or "thin", "pretty" or "ugly" does not come close to the truth, do not judge. Feel the energy, but do not see with the eye.
Because a person is worth what we attribute to him, the value can change, life is like a river.
Mostly only the loss teaches us about the value of things
- Arthur Schopenhauer - German philosopher - 1788 to 1860
Copyright: https://shaolin-rainer.de
(Please also download my app "Buddha-Blog English" from the Apple and Android stores)
Please rate us on Apple, Google, or Spotify podcast to help us promote the show
Who does not know the story of David, the conqueror Goliath.
The little one beats the big one, anything is possible!
In nature, David often beats Goliath, a small virus knocks down a big man; ants transport an elephant in small pieces, and a small seed becomes a huge tree.
Buddha taught us not to judge, not to distinguish in "good" or "bad", "small" or "big", not to "stick" a label on people or things.
The "little" boy next door may one day become the president, the "little" daughter of my friend the discoverer of an important substance; "little" does not always remain "little", and "big" may be over tomorrow.
The factor of time makes everything the same, weakness becomes strength, strength expires, just as everything and everyone will crumble to dust.
So it is with the victories, they are short-lived, the part in which the hero grows old, the cinema doesn't show that, how he falls ill, loses his teeth, can no longer hold his liquids, and finally dies in pain, the end must always be "happy", otherwise no one would buy a movie ticket.
So also the victory of David is only a story, nothing is left, not him, not his opponent, not the spectators of that time, only a "story" penetrates from a remote corner of the universe to our ear, echoes briefly in the memory, yes, everything is just possible.
Would it be possible to draw a lesson from the story of David and Goliath for our world today?
YES, it is possible!
No war has ever been worthwhile. Every battle, every fight, every quarrel, seen in the light of time, was unimportant, senseless, brought only suffering.
If you divide people into "small" and "big" it is a mistake; also "fat" or "thin", "pretty" or "ugly" does not come close to the truth, do not judge. Feel the energy, but do not see with the eye.
Because a person is worth what we attribute to him, the value can change, life is like a river.
Mostly only the loss teaches us about the value of things
- Arthur Schopenhauer - German philosopher - 1788 to 1860
Copyright: https://shaolin-rainer.de
(Please also download my app "Buddha-Blog English" from the Apple and Android stores)
Please rate us on Apple, Google, or Spotify podcast to help us promote the show
6 Minuten
Thank you
Everybody is talking about thank you .....
..... but thank you does not make full
Everywhere I read just how grateful one is to the nurses, the truck drivers, the sales clerks etc.. All politicians praise the occupational groups, which stand in front at the "Corona front".
We all know how poorly these professions are paid, how much some people are exploited in the process, and now suddenly they are the heroes of our society?
While the main part of society protects itself at home from the 'danger of life' with HomeOffice and StayHome, other people risk their health to supply us (as fresh and cheap as possible).
But these people can't buy anything from babbling, a thank you is nice, but it doesn't fill the fridge.
So, how about a whopping bonus for the nurses, for the postal employees, for the people who just keep the place running? A recognition for the services rendered, an appreciation of their dedication. Combined with an exemption from taxes, let's say for at least the times of crisis, those would be the words I would like to hear now.
And yes, it should remain so after the crisis, the thanks should not be only now and straight.
This blog has as a principle "no politics", no politics. Nevertheless, today I will vent about the Federal Minister of Health Jens Spahn, not because of his political opinion, I do not care about that, but because he does not do his job, has not done, and also has no ability to do so. When will there finally be masks, protective suits, disinfectants, gloves?
When will the professional groups that all the dignitaries are thanking be properly equipped? Was the responsible minister too busy? And if so, with what? The virus has been spreading in Germany for almost 2 months, didn't they see it coming? Countries like China, Korea, Singapore and Japan have been able to procure everything they need in a rush, why are no consequences being drawn in Berlin? There was almost 3 months warning time.
I demand an investigation committee and the immediate resignation of the sleeping pill! And his salary belongs donated, all funds belong taken away from him, distributed as a bonus to the nurses.
A thank you doesn't fill you up, and thank you notes from the sleeping pill sound like mockery too!
Thank you for the tragedy. I need it for my art
- Kurt Cobain - US rock musician - 1967 to 1994
How quickly the thanks of men fades away, and ingratitude becomes!
- Sophocles - Greek tragedian - 497 to 406 before the year zero
Who expects thanks for his love, does not love
- Heinrich Wolfgang Seidel - pastor and writer - 1876 to 1945
Copyright: https://shaolin-rainer.de
(Please also download my app "Buddha-Blog English" from the Apple and Android stores)
Please rate us on Apple, Google, or Spotify podcast to help us promote the show
Everybody is talking about thank you .....
..... but thank you does not make full
Everywhere I read just how grateful one is to the nurses, the truck drivers, the sales clerks etc.. All politicians praise the occupational groups, which stand in front at the "Corona front".
We all know how poorly these professions are paid, how much some people are exploited in the process, and now suddenly they are the heroes of our society?
While the main part of society protects itself at home from the 'danger of life' with HomeOffice and StayHome, other people risk their health to supply us (as fresh and cheap as possible).
But these people can't buy anything from babbling, a thank you is nice, but it doesn't fill the fridge.
So, how about a whopping bonus for the nurses, for the postal employees, for the people who just keep the place running? A recognition for the services rendered, an appreciation of their dedication. Combined with an exemption from taxes, let's say for at least the times of crisis, those would be the words I would like to hear now.
And yes, it should remain so after the crisis, the thanks should not be only now and straight.
This blog has as a principle "no politics", no politics. Nevertheless, today I will vent about the Federal Minister of Health Jens Spahn, not because of his political opinion, I do not care about that, but because he does not do his job, has not done, and also has no ability to do so. When will there finally be masks, protective suits, disinfectants, gloves?
When will the professional groups that all the dignitaries are thanking be properly equipped? Was the responsible minister too busy? And if so, with what? The virus has been spreading in Germany for almost 2 months, didn't they see it coming? Countries like China, Korea, Singapore and Japan have been able to procure everything they need in a rush, why are no consequences being drawn in Berlin? There was almost 3 months warning time.
I demand an investigation committee and the immediate resignation of the sleeping pill! And his salary belongs donated, all funds belong taken away from him, distributed as a bonus to the nurses.
A thank you doesn't fill you up, and thank you notes from the sleeping pill sound like mockery too!
Thank you for the tragedy. I need it for my art
- Kurt Cobain - US rock musician - 1967 to 1994
How quickly the thanks of men fades away, and ingratitude becomes!
- Sophocles - Greek tragedian - 497 to 406 before the year zero
Who expects thanks for his love, does not love
- Heinrich Wolfgang Seidel - pastor and writer - 1876 to 1945
Copyright: https://shaolin-rainer.de
(Please also download my app "Buddha-Blog English" from the Apple and Android stores)
Please rate us on Apple, Google, or Spotify podcast to help us promote the show
