Buddhism in daily life - Mindfulness in every day tasks Archiv
364 Episoden
4 Minuten
Happy New Year
I would like to start with a quote from the Meta Sutra (goodness teaching):
MAY ALL BEINGS BE FREE FROM SUFFERING, MAY WHATEVER THEY HAVE GAINED NOT BE LOST, NOT BE DIMINISHED, NOT BE DESTROYED. ALL BEINGS ARE THE INHERITORS OF THEIR OWN KARMA.
But does it really feel like a new year? Or is it simply a new day?
When I bought the non-alcoholic champagne for our New Year's celebration a few days ago, and saw the masses of high-proof alcoholic beverages, I realized that most people have to run away from themselves, especially on holidays their own ego seems especially hard to bear.
How can it be that "celebrating" with oneself has been replaced "shutting down, what is going on in our society?"
Chan masters used to cry in the evening because the day was now lost. Yesterday was last year, today is a new year, so we should not lose another year to "wake up".
When it snows on New Year's Eve, New Year is not far away
- Wilhelm Busch - German author - 1832 to 1908
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
I would like to start with a quote from the Meta Sutra (goodness teaching):
MAY ALL BEINGS BE FREE FROM SUFFERING, MAY WHATEVER THEY HAVE GAINED NOT BE LOST, NOT BE DIMINISHED, NOT BE DESTROYED. ALL BEINGS ARE THE INHERITORS OF THEIR OWN KARMA.
But does it really feel like a new year? Or is it simply a new day?
When I bought the non-alcoholic champagne for our New Year's celebration a few days ago, and saw the masses of high-proof alcoholic beverages, I realized that most people have to run away from themselves, especially on holidays their own ego seems especially hard to bear.
How can it be that "celebrating" with oneself has been replaced "shutting down, what is going on in our society?"
Chan masters used to cry in the evening because the day was now lost. Yesterday was last year, today is a new year, so we should not lose another year to "wake up".
When it snows on New Year's Eve, New Year is not far away
- Wilhelm Busch - German author - 1832 to 1908
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
Buddhism and the Keys
Many people search for Buddha, in temples, in books, in meditation and in prayer.
They search and search and search, some spend their whole life with it.
But the answer is so simple, we already have the keys to the "gateless gate", the answer lies within ourselves.
LET GO, THAT IS THE KEY TO HAPPINESS (BUDDHA)
Easier said than done. Life rages around us, people come and go, are born and die, fall ill and recover! People we love are far away, people we don't like so much are near.
So how to let go, how to find the keys, how to use them, and anyway, where is the "gateless gate"?
There is only one simple answer to this: in "enlightenment" and in "awakening"!
This is easier said than done. After all, "enlightenment" cannot be bought in the supermarket, "awakening" cannot be switched on with the help of a button.
So how does it work, how can I awaken, how do I find "enlightenment"?
Very simple! Stop thinking, do nothing!
Thinking always brings us to where the imagination is already, but the events will never happen as we imagine them in our thoughts.
It takes us to where nothing is, only our imaginations are there, reality is never as we imagined it before.
When we have lost our keys, we don't know where they are, we search and search, we don't find them. But when the time comes, the keys will "suddenly" be there again, in front of us.
We cannot find the "enlightenment", the "enlightenment" finds us!
Luck, bad luck, unexpected events, such is the journey to "enlightenment".
We say we are looking for "enlightenment", but in reality it finds us!
When we start the journey towards "enlightenment", we can say: "I am looking for enlightenment", but when we have completed a good part of the journey, we realize that "enlightenment" finds us.
What is the reason for the journey? The "COMING HOME AGAIN"!
THE KEY OF THE STORY IS NOT IN THE STORY, IT IS IN THE HUMAN BEING
- THÉODORE SIMON JOUFFROY - FRENCH PUBLICIST - 1796 TO 1842
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 people search for Buddha, in temples, in books, in meditation and in prayer.
They search and search and search, some spend their whole life with it.
But the answer is so simple, we already have the keys to the "gateless gate", the answer lies within ourselves.
LET GO, THAT IS THE KEY TO HAPPINESS (BUDDHA)
Easier said than done. Life rages around us, people come and go, are born and die, fall ill and recover! People we love are far away, people we don't like so much are near.
So how to let go, how to find the keys, how to use them, and anyway, where is the "gateless gate"?
There is only one simple answer to this: in "enlightenment" and in "awakening"!
This is easier said than done. After all, "enlightenment" cannot be bought in the supermarket, "awakening" cannot be switched on with the help of a button.
So how does it work, how can I awaken, how do I find "enlightenment"?
Very simple! Stop thinking, do nothing!
Thinking always brings us to where the imagination is already, but the events will never happen as we imagine them in our thoughts.
It takes us to where nothing is, only our imaginations are there, reality is never as we imagined it before.
When we have lost our keys, we don't know where they are, we search and search, we don't find them. But when the time comes, the keys will "suddenly" be there again, in front of us.
We cannot find the "enlightenment", the "enlightenment" finds us!
Luck, bad luck, unexpected events, such is the journey to "enlightenment".
We say we are looking for "enlightenment", but in reality it finds us!
When we start the journey towards "enlightenment", we can say: "I am looking for enlightenment", but when we have completed a good part of the journey, we realize that "enlightenment" finds us.
What is the reason for the journey? The "COMING HOME AGAIN"!
THE KEY OF THE STORY IS NOT IN THE STORY, IT IS IN THE HUMAN BEING
- THÉODORE SIMON JOUFFROY - FRENCH PUBLICIST - 1796 TO 1842
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
Why do I think I am right?
Look at the past. You were sure, things were clear!
If you could evaluate the same facts again, would your decision still be the same?
OFTEN PROBABLY NOT!
Every day we have to decide one way or the other, left or right, up or down. And we always think that we are doing the right thing. Of course, otherwise our decision would be different.
Many a right decision was only made because the way to the wrong one was not clear.
Hans Krailsheimer
When we have to choose which path we want to take, we should think about the decisions of the past, which situation would be comparable to the present one, how did I decide then?
WAS I RIGHT THEN? OR MAYBE NOT?
And what do I learn from this for the current situation? How can I take the position of the center from which the historical Buddha started?
Is it really important to be right, could it be that I would achieve more, make other people happy, if I took a tiny step back?
In important situations, I now try to imagine the situation from the perspective of the future. One year later, how would I see the whole thing in retrospect, was everything really so important and right?
The noble path of the historical Buddha, also called the middle path, also helps us in making decisions:
1. RIGHT REALIZATION
2. RIGHT DECISION
3. RIGHT SPEECH
4. RIGHT ACTION
It is not helpful to put resolutions on the back burner. The way I decide is good, because there is no "right" and no "wrong". As a Buddhist, you should hold back on judgments anyway.
But that does not mean that I am always right!
Other people are also right, the solution always lies in the middle.
Just try to do everything "wrong" for one day.
EVERYONE THINKS THAT HIS REALITY IS THE RIGHT REALITY
- HILDE DOMIN - GERMAN WRITER - 1909 TO 2006
Copyright: https://shaolin-rainer.de
(Please also download my app "Buddha-Blog English" from the Apple and Android stores)
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Look at the past. You were sure, things were clear!
If you could evaluate the same facts again, would your decision still be the same?
OFTEN PROBABLY NOT!
Every day we have to decide one way or the other, left or right, up or down. And we always think that we are doing the right thing. Of course, otherwise our decision would be different.
Many a right decision was only made because the way to the wrong one was not clear.
Hans Krailsheimer
When we have to choose which path we want to take, we should think about the decisions of the past, which situation would be comparable to the present one, how did I decide then?
WAS I RIGHT THEN? OR MAYBE NOT?
And what do I learn from this for the current situation? How can I take the position of the center from which the historical Buddha started?
Is it really important to be right, could it be that I would achieve more, make other people happy, if I took a tiny step back?
In important situations, I now try to imagine the situation from the perspective of the future. One year later, how would I see the whole thing in retrospect, was everything really so important and right?
The noble path of the historical Buddha, also called the middle path, also helps us in making decisions:
1. RIGHT REALIZATION
2. RIGHT DECISION
3. RIGHT SPEECH
4. RIGHT ACTION
It is not helpful to put resolutions on the back burner. The way I decide is good, because there is no "right" and no "wrong". As a Buddhist, you should hold back on judgments anyway.
But that does not mean that I am always right!
Other people are also right, the solution always lies in the middle.
Just try to do everything "wrong" for one day.
EVERYONE THINKS THAT HIS REALITY IS THE RIGHT REALITY
- HILDE DOMIN - GERMAN WRITER - 1909 TO 2006
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 truth about elephants
What is as big as an elephant, looks like an elephant, but weighs nothing?
That's right, its shadow!
Our thoughts are like shadows. Our ego paints us pictures, makes us believe things, shows us movies.
These can seem (at first sight) like real, but they are NOT. We see these films and pictures, we are flooded with thoughts, but these are without content, they are illusions, they are shadows.
Buddha taught us to turn off the thoughts, to "defeat" the ego, to find peace, to stop desiring, wishing and clinging, only in this way can we begin the journey to enlightenment.
We must learn to distinguish between the elephant and its shadow, to cultivate good thoughts, to "push away" bad ones.
What are good thoughts, and what are bad thoughts?
Good thoughts are active thoughts. Bad thoughts are concerns or wishful thinking formulated by the ego.
For example, planning for the next child's birthday party would be good and important, but our ego's terrible ideas (what could go wrong?) are wrong and negative.
The main part of our thoughts come only from our ego. Is she cheating on me, does he still love me, will we make ends meet, will I lose my job, what is that twinge in my stomach, am I sick?
All nonsense, bullshit played by the ego, unnecessary, counterproductive, harmful, a SHADOW lays on the mind, immediately the mood becomes gloomy, we become depressed, melancholic, our life is at the mercy of the whims of our ego.
Paradise is nothing else than a state of mind, exclusively dependent on our personal perception, heaven and hell are two sides of the same coin, only I am the master of my thoughts, I can determine my ego, "choose" and "control" the images and the movies in my head, just as the great teacher Buddha has exemplified it to us, go his way as well, awaken, "banish" these very images and movies from our thoughts, thus begin the journey to personal "enlightenment".
If "bad" thoughts appear in our head cinema, we must immediately stop them, mentally slap our fingers, and put something "positive" in the place of the bad thoughts. Here it offers itself to think immediately about the personal awakening, to focus the own way to the freedom from desire and wishes, to check any "clinging", thus to create a positive substitute for the negative sensations.
The shadow of an elephant may be big, but it remains a shadow, it has no substance, not even for a small moment!
Who can cast a beautiful shadow, does not pay attention to the shadow but to the body
- Lü Buwei - Chinese philosopher - 300 to 336 before the year zero
Take your shadow from me
- Diogenes of Sinope - Greek philosopher - 404 to 322 before the year zero
Even a hair has its shadow
- Publilius Syrus - Roman poet - 1st century before the year zero
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 is as big as an elephant, looks like an elephant, but weighs nothing?
That's right, its shadow!
Our thoughts are like shadows. Our ego paints us pictures, makes us believe things, shows us movies.
These can seem (at first sight) like real, but they are NOT. We see these films and pictures, we are flooded with thoughts, but these are without content, they are illusions, they are shadows.
Buddha taught us to turn off the thoughts, to "defeat" the ego, to find peace, to stop desiring, wishing and clinging, only in this way can we begin the journey to enlightenment.
We must learn to distinguish between the elephant and its shadow, to cultivate good thoughts, to "push away" bad ones.
What are good thoughts, and what are bad thoughts?
Good thoughts are active thoughts. Bad thoughts are concerns or wishful thinking formulated by the ego.
For example, planning for the next child's birthday party would be good and important, but our ego's terrible ideas (what could go wrong?) are wrong and negative.
The main part of our thoughts come only from our ego. Is she cheating on me, does he still love me, will we make ends meet, will I lose my job, what is that twinge in my stomach, am I sick?
All nonsense, bullshit played by the ego, unnecessary, counterproductive, harmful, a SHADOW lays on the mind, immediately the mood becomes gloomy, we become depressed, melancholic, our life is at the mercy of the whims of our ego.
Paradise is nothing else than a state of mind, exclusively dependent on our personal perception, heaven and hell are two sides of the same coin, only I am the master of my thoughts, I can determine my ego, "choose" and "control" the images and the movies in my head, just as the great teacher Buddha has exemplified it to us, go his way as well, awaken, "banish" these very images and movies from our thoughts, thus begin the journey to personal "enlightenment".
If "bad" thoughts appear in our head cinema, we must immediately stop them, mentally slap our fingers, and put something "positive" in the place of the bad thoughts. Here it offers itself to think immediately about the personal awakening, to focus the own way to the freedom from desire and wishes, to check any "clinging", thus to create a positive substitute for the negative sensations.
The shadow of an elephant may be big, but it remains a shadow, it has no substance, not even for a small moment!
Who can cast a beautiful shadow, does not pay attention to the shadow but to the body
- Lü Buwei - Chinese philosopher - 300 to 336 before the year zero
Take your shadow from me
- Diogenes of Sinope - Greek philosopher - 404 to 322 before the year zero
Even a hair has its shadow
- Publilius Syrus - Roman poet - 1st century before the year zero
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 Chan (Zen) Master is Like an Alarm Clock
What makes a good Chan teacher?
He must be like an alarm clock, like the alarm that rings us out of bed in the morning. He should help us "wake up", pointing with his outstretched finger to a certain point.
It is completely irrelevant whether the Chan master himself goes the way he points. It doesn't matter if he himself is "enlightened", it doesn't matter if he is trembling or strong, he only has to point and thus awaken.
What made Buddha so special, what distinguished him from other historical figures? Right, he was "enlightened", that made him special, that's why countless people follow him until today.
To accompany other people on the way to "enlightenment", to help them create the conditions for "awakening", to awaken them, to sensitize them, to explain the way to them, that is what a good Chan teacher does, that is his only task. How he does it, with what tools he shows, how he awakens, that is not important.
Buddha left no instructions for "awakening", no instructions written down. And certainly for good reasons, "awakening" is after all a very individual process. Every person is different, there is no button to turn on "enlightenment", no unique and secret formula, and certainly no suitable magic spell.
There is Buddha as a role model, as the discoverer of "awakening".
After his enlightenment Buddha had spread his teachings orally, only later his speeches and instructions were recorded by disciples. Buddha showed the necessary preparations for the path, tried to awaken people, to reach them. Of Buddha's direct disciples, several hundred are also said to have "awakened," a significant number for the time.
And today, what remains of the Buddha's teachings? How does his spirit reach people?
Good Chan masters have become rare, the subject is difficult, but the need is great!
Simply put, you have to try, you have to be willing to walk a bit of the path with the teacher, to form your own opinion whether the chosen path is the right one.
Because the Chan teacher can only awaken, show the way, you must not look at his finger, but you should look at the point to which the finger points.
THE ALARM CLOCK IS CLASSIFIED AS TORTURE WHEN IT CALLS OUT OF SWEET DREAMS
- MONIKA KÜHN-GÖRG - GERMAN AUTHOR - B. 1942
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 makes a good Chan teacher?
He must be like an alarm clock, like the alarm that rings us out of bed in the morning. He should help us "wake up", pointing with his outstretched finger to a certain point.
It is completely irrelevant whether the Chan master himself goes the way he points. It doesn't matter if he himself is "enlightened", it doesn't matter if he is trembling or strong, he only has to point and thus awaken.
What made Buddha so special, what distinguished him from other historical figures? Right, he was "enlightened", that made him special, that's why countless people follow him until today.
To accompany other people on the way to "enlightenment", to help them create the conditions for "awakening", to awaken them, to sensitize them, to explain the way to them, that is what a good Chan teacher does, that is his only task. How he does it, with what tools he shows, how he awakens, that is not important.
Buddha left no instructions for "awakening", no instructions written down. And certainly for good reasons, "awakening" is after all a very individual process. Every person is different, there is no button to turn on "enlightenment", no unique and secret formula, and certainly no suitable magic spell.
There is Buddha as a role model, as the discoverer of "awakening".
After his enlightenment Buddha had spread his teachings orally, only later his speeches and instructions were recorded by disciples. Buddha showed the necessary preparations for the path, tried to awaken people, to reach them. Of Buddha's direct disciples, several hundred are also said to have "awakened," a significant number for the time.
And today, what remains of the Buddha's teachings? How does his spirit reach people?
Good Chan masters have become rare, the subject is difficult, but the need is great!
Simply put, you have to try, you have to be willing to walk a bit of the path with the teacher, to form your own opinion whether the chosen path is the right one.
Because the Chan teacher can only awaken, show the way, you must not look at his finger, but you should look at the point to which the finger points.
THE ALARM CLOCK IS CLASSIFIED AS TORTURE WHEN IT CALLS OUT OF SWEET DREAMS
- MONIKA KÜHN-GÖRG - GERMAN AUTHOR - B. 1942
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
What is enlightenment?
The German word "Erleuchtung" comes from the Sanskrit term "Bodhi" and means translated "awakening".
With light, or an experience with light, "Bodhi" has little to do, rather it is about the awakening from the dreamlike world experience of everyone, from leaving a wrong view of reality.
Wrong is the view of all being before awakening, because people perceive their self as separate from their perception, and do not recognize the impermanence and emptiness. An example here would be that the laptop on which I am writing these lines (as well as my body and everything in this room) will have completely crumbled to dust in a hundred thousand years, thus having no real substance.
By "enlightenment" I personally understand that my self becomes one together with other subjects and objects in harmony. I am not talking about my body, but about me.
My body, my head, my arms, my legs, my hands, my feet, that belongs to me, that is not me.
But then where and who am I?
This is exactly the question of "awakening", and if the answer would be so simple, the historical Buddha would have already left us an instruction manual, with which we can "easily and quickly" find "enlightenment". But Buddha had just not done that, because "enlightenment" is a very personal act, finding one's self is a very individual process.
Imagine life as in your dreams. You are always in the picture, you see yourself in the dream. Just as you see yourself in the dream, your real self sees your body, the things you do, the people you meet, the events and places around you.
So your real self, now you "just" have to find it again!
Too complicated you say?
No!
Often I hear that enlightenment could be achieved through meditation. But against it speaks that even the Buddha did not find an answer to his questions by meditation, but only when he gave up searching and striving, was completely at the end, saw no more possibility, wanted nothing more, sat down completely sunk under a tree, did nothing more, desired nothing more, when all fear and all hope fell away from him, no wanting and no doing guided his actions, then happened what could not have happened otherwise, at the sight of the morning star he experienced "enlightenment".
He spoke: "I and the great earth and all living beings have attained enlightenment together".
However, it required for his "enlightenment" a borderline experience, emptiness was a prerequisite, the end of all desire.
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 German word "Erleuchtung" comes from the Sanskrit term "Bodhi" and means translated "awakening".
With light, or an experience with light, "Bodhi" has little to do, rather it is about the awakening from the dreamlike world experience of everyone, from leaving a wrong view of reality.
Wrong is the view of all being before awakening, because people perceive their self as separate from their perception, and do not recognize the impermanence and emptiness. An example here would be that the laptop on which I am writing these lines (as well as my body and everything in this room) will have completely crumbled to dust in a hundred thousand years, thus having no real substance.
By "enlightenment" I personally understand that my self becomes one together with other subjects and objects in harmony. I am not talking about my body, but about me.
My body, my head, my arms, my legs, my hands, my feet, that belongs to me, that is not me.
But then where and who am I?
This is exactly the question of "awakening", and if the answer would be so simple, the historical Buddha would have already left us an instruction manual, with which we can "easily and quickly" find "enlightenment". But Buddha had just not done that, because "enlightenment" is a very personal act, finding one's self is a very individual process.
Imagine life as in your dreams. You are always in the picture, you see yourself in the dream. Just as you see yourself in the dream, your real self sees your body, the things you do, the people you meet, the events and places around you.
So your real self, now you "just" have to find it again!
Too complicated you say?
No!
Often I hear that enlightenment could be achieved through meditation. But against it speaks that even the Buddha did not find an answer to his questions by meditation, but only when he gave up searching and striving, was completely at the end, saw no more possibility, wanted nothing more, sat down completely sunk under a tree, did nothing more, desired nothing more, when all fear and all hope fell away from him, no wanting and no doing guided his actions, then happened what could not have happened otherwise, at the sight of the morning star he experienced "enlightenment".
He spoke: "I and the great earth and all living beings have attained enlightenment together".
However, it required for his "enlightenment" a borderline experience, emptiness was a prerequisite, the end of all desire.
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
Brave New World - Reflections on Humanity by Aldous Huxley
Huxley is often called one of the brightest minds of the last century, and I gladly agree.
His probably best known book is "Brave New World" about society in the year 2540. In the future peace and freedom have finally become reality (or does it only seem so?).
The painful experiences of a long war have produced a particular form of community that constantly disperses and primitively distracts itself with sex, consumption, and a new drug within a caste system (sound familiar?).
The world is run by a single government, procreation takes care of breeding centers for humanity. Encouraged to promiscuity, marriage and family were abolished, people are "bred" in constant quantity.
Yes, distraction, that seek today also the most!
No matter whether cell phone, face book, television or cinema, we can be sprinkled so gladly, only not think, gladly still a few beers (if I already hear the belittlement (*chen), I drink NO alcohol), drugs are there now at each corner (also intoxicating means are TABU for me).
This brave new world of Aldous Huxley I can highly recommend to everyone as reading, the way of life presented here is exactly the opposite of Buddha's teachings, enlightenment. In Huxley's utopia, people enjoy themselves to the bitter end and are distracted from reality.
Isn't this kind of distraction too similar to the way people will live in 2020, have Aldous Huxley's visions of the future perhaps already arrived today?
And do we really want to live like this, distracted, drugged up and remote-controlled? Constantly on the lookout for the next kick?
A bit more brutal, a bit more perverted, more sugar, more drinks, stronger drugs, further, higher, harder, more boom?
I for one don't want that!
I don't like this brave new world in 2020, I find it artificial, alien, harmful.
I like the way of the Buddha, the attitude of the holy man impresses me.
Yes, everyone should be happy in his own way, I don't see the brave new world of Huxley as utopian at all. Many have already accepted this world as their new home. I, for one, do not want to go there.
According to the historical Buddha, emptiness is form and form is emptiness.
Art is the governor of utopia
- Max Frisch - Swiss architect and writer - 1911 to 1991
Progress is only the realization of utopias
- Oscar Wilde - Irish writer - 1854 to 1900
Socialism is not a utopia but a tragedy, that is the point today
- Wilhelm Röpke - German economics professor - 1899 to 1966
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
Huxley is often called one of the brightest minds of the last century, and I gladly agree.
His probably best known book is "Brave New World" about society in the year 2540. In the future peace and freedom have finally become reality (or does it only seem so?).
The painful experiences of a long war have produced a particular form of community that constantly disperses and primitively distracts itself with sex, consumption, and a new drug within a caste system (sound familiar?).
The world is run by a single government, procreation takes care of breeding centers for humanity. Encouraged to promiscuity, marriage and family were abolished, people are "bred" in constant quantity.
Yes, distraction, that seek today also the most!
No matter whether cell phone, face book, television or cinema, we can be sprinkled so gladly, only not think, gladly still a few beers (if I already hear the belittlement (*chen), I drink NO alcohol), drugs are there now at each corner (also intoxicating means are TABU for me).
This brave new world of Aldous Huxley I can highly recommend to everyone as reading, the way of life presented here is exactly the opposite of Buddha's teachings, enlightenment. In Huxley's utopia, people enjoy themselves to the bitter end and are distracted from reality.
Isn't this kind of distraction too similar to the way people will live in 2020, have Aldous Huxley's visions of the future perhaps already arrived today?
And do we really want to live like this, distracted, drugged up and remote-controlled? Constantly on the lookout for the next kick?
A bit more brutal, a bit more perverted, more sugar, more drinks, stronger drugs, further, higher, harder, more boom?
I for one don't want that!
I don't like this brave new world in 2020, I find it artificial, alien, harmful.
I like the way of the Buddha, the attitude of the holy man impresses me.
Yes, everyone should be happy in his own way, I don't see the brave new world of Huxley as utopian at all. Many have already accepted this world as their new home. I, for one, do not want to go there.
According to the historical Buddha, emptiness is form and form is emptiness.
Art is the governor of utopia
- Max Frisch - Swiss architect and writer - 1911 to 1991
Progress is only the realization of utopias
- Oscar Wilde - Irish writer - 1854 to 1900
Socialism is not a utopia but a tragedy, that is the point today
- Wilhelm Röpke - German economics professor - 1899 to 1966
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
9 Minuten
Buddha and the Mustard Seeds
Reflections on death
Near the monastery of the historical Buddha once lived a poor woman named "Kisa", she was pretty and always cheerful, people liked her. Despite her lowly background, the son of the local merchant fell in love with her, the parents were finally convinced by the love of the two, the marriage was agreed, the celebrations were lavish, the marriage very happy.
A healthy boy was born, the life of "Kisa" was now perfect, she was wealthy, still handsome, the couple loved each other, their existence favored by Fortuna and the gods.
So it seemed!
Because one day misfortune came to their house, their son just would not wake up in the morning, he was dead, died in the night, without signs, without illness, he did not move.
Kisa was struck by lightning, she knew only happiness, contentment and joy, a sorrow or torment was unknown to her, her life was so beautiful, she did not want to resign herself to the catastrophe, surely her son was just sleeping, would wake up soon.
The relatives came to support, to help and to mourn, but the Kisa did not want to see her fate, she was sure that her son would wake up again, "he is only sleeping" she cried.
She took the dead child and walked around, asking everywhere for a cure, in every house they told her that the child was dead and she was crazy, she did not let herself be distracted. An old woman advised her to go to the monastery of the Buddha, the white and enlightened teacher would surely know advice.
She arrived at the monastery and found the Buddha, laid the child at his feet and begged for help, asking if he knew a medicine that could "bring back" her son. The Buddha said "yes", he could help her, he knew the medicine that could 'cure' her son.
Kisa asked if he would give her the remedy, give her assistance. The Buddha said, "You must first give me mustard seed, a handful".
She asked if that was all, just mustard seeds? "Yes," said the Buddha, only mustard seeds, "white mustard seeds, a handful of seeds." "But", said the Buddha, "the mustard seeds must come from a house where no one has ever died".
The woman went, her son still in her arms, from house to house, everywhere people wanted to help her, almost all the inhabitants had mustard seeds, but in every house a family member had already died, the father, the mother, the grandparents. For many years and generations then houses were inhabited, children were born, grew up, grew old and died in the same house, in their hut, the course of events.
In the evening Kisa was totally exhausted, she could not find the seeds, everywhere she got the same information, gladly, we give you seeds, but someone has already died here. She began to think, it occurred to her that many people must have already died, over the years, over the generations, an infinite number of deaths had to be mourned, countless children were born, death was a constant in every house, not only they lost a child, other fellow men had to deal with similar strokes of fate.
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
Reflections on death
Near the monastery of the historical Buddha once lived a poor woman named "Kisa", she was pretty and always cheerful, people liked her. Despite her lowly background, the son of the local merchant fell in love with her, the parents were finally convinced by the love of the two, the marriage was agreed, the celebrations were lavish, the marriage very happy.
A healthy boy was born, the life of "Kisa" was now perfect, she was wealthy, still handsome, the couple loved each other, their existence favored by Fortuna and the gods.
So it seemed!
Because one day misfortune came to their house, their son just would not wake up in the morning, he was dead, died in the night, without signs, without illness, he did not move.
Kisa was struck by lightning, she knew only happiness, contentment and joy, a sorrow or torment was unknown to her, her life was so beautiful, she did not want to resign herself to the catastrophe, surely her son was just sleeping, would wake up soon.
The relatives came to support, to help and to mourn, but the Kisa did not want to see her fate, she was sure that her son would wake up again, "he is only sleeping" she cried.
She took the dead child and walked around, asking everywhere for a cure, in every house they told her that the child was dead and she was crazy, she did not let herself be distracted. An old woman advised her to go to the monastery of the Buddha, the white and enlightened teacher would surely know advice.
She arrived at the monastery and found the Buddha, laid the child at his feet and begged for help, asking if he knew a medicine that could "bring back" her son. The Buddha said "yes", he could help her, he knew the medicine that could 'cure' her son.
Kisa asked if he would give her the remedy, give her assistance. The Buddha said, "You must first give me mustard seed, a handful".
She asked if that was all, just mustard seeds? "Yes," said the Buddha, only mustard seeds, "white mustard seeds, a handful of seeds." "But", said the Buddha, "the mustard seeds must come from a house where no one has ever died".
The woman went, her son still in her arms, from house to house, everywhere people wanted to help her, almost all the inhabitants had mustard seeds, but in every house a family member had already died, the father, the mother, the grandparents. For many years and generations then houses were inhabited, children were born, grew up, grew old and died in the same house, in their hut, the course of events.
In the evening Kisa was totally exhausted, she could not find the seeds, everywhere she got the same information, gladly, we give you seeds, but someone has already died here. She began to think, it occurred to her that many people must have already died, over the years, over the generations, an infinite number of deaths had to be mourned, countless children were born, death was a constant in every house, not only they lost a child, other fellow men had to deal with similar strokes of fate.
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
Christmas
The holiday season is a wonderful time!
Even if not all family members can celebrate together, I hope you will still have a reflective time.
Maybe you have grandma's delicious cookies under the tree, maybe you can talk to your relatives on the phone; either way, stay in touch with your loved ones, celebrate a feast of love virtually.
This years, Christmas is a more simple feast, but it nevertheless invites reflection and mindfulness, serenity and reflection.
Focus on the things that are really important in life. Material things are fine, but interchangeable, and without real content.
Experience this holiday consciously, enjoy every moment, because time never comes back.
What makes a family?
What makes you as a person?
What can you take from the holidays into the new year?
No matter how things are, no matter what the circumstances are, live in the "now" and in the "today", regardless of appearances; what can you do to make this world a better world?
Everyone is talking about the "reflective days" now, but what will we reflect on? To values, contents and the family? To the things we have wanted to achieve for a long time? On a Buddhist path?
Hardly any time of year is better suited to reflecting on one's own "self" than the festive season around Christmas. And this year, with far fewer distractions than usual, it's a good time to reflect on our own "remaining time".
First of all about the question of all questions: who am I?
Then about the follow-up question: where do I come from?
And of course in the consequence also: where will I go?
According to the teacher of all teachers, is not everything as it appears to us?
Is there a truth that needs to be fathomed?
Can it be that behind the felt reality a completely different world could appear?
Questions about questions that arise from this train of thought that demand answers.
If everything is not as it seems at first glance, what is it like?
The philosophy of Buddha offers the right answers for those of us who ask the right questions. However, this requires a fair amount of courage.
The path is the goal!
You should take advantage of the contemplative time!
Christmas is not only a time of joy, but also of reflection
- Winston Churchill - British statesman - 1874 to 1965
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 holiday season is a wonderful time!
Even if not all family members can celebrate together, I hope you will still have a reflective time.
Maybe you have grandma's delicious cookies under the tree, maybe you can talk to your relatives on the phone; either way, stay in touch with your loved ones, celebrate a feast of love virtually.
This years, Christmas is a more simple feast, but it nevertheless invites reflection and mindfulness, serenity and reflection.
Focus on the things that are really important in life. Material things are fine, but interchangeable, and without real content.
Experience this holiday consciously, enjoy every moment, because time never comes back.
What makes a family?
What makes you as a person?
What can you take from the holidays into the new year?
No matter how things are, no matter what the circumstances are, live in the "now" and in the "today", regardless of appearances; what can you do to make this world a better world?
Everyone is talking about the "reflective days" now, but what will we reflect on? To values, contents and the family? To the things we have wanted to achieve for a long time? On a Buddhist path?
Hardly any time of year is better suited to reflecting on one's own "self" than the festive season around Christmas. And this year, with far fewer distractions than usual, it's a good time to reflect on our own "remaining time".
First of all about the question of all questions: who am I?
Then about the follow-up question: where do I come from?
And of course in the consequence also: where will I go?
According to the teacher of all teachers, is not everything as it appears to us?
Is there a truth that needs to be fathomed?
Can it be that behind the felt reality a completely different world could appear?
Questions about questions that arise from this train of thought that demand answers.
If everything is not as it seems at first glance, what is it like?
The philosophy of Buddha offers the right answers for those of us who ask the right questions. However, this requires a fair amount of courage.
The path is the goal!
You should take advantage of the contemplative time!
Christmas is not only a time of joy, but also of reflection
- Winston Churchill - British statesman - 1874 to 1965
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
I love the stupidity of my fellow men
In times of crisis the character of a person, the population, shows! If yesterday we were good and noble, today everyone is the next to himself.
Fights over toilet paper, the mother of a friend was stolen noodles FROM THE SHOPPING TROLLEY, all of a sudden, all the countries cut themselves off, yesterday still cosmopolitan and tolerant, today closed and aggressive, within a few days, many of my fellow men have turned into zombies, the Walking Dead, finally live and in color.
So completely I can not understand the attitude of some zombies (formerly fellow humans), we all have to die, so why this inhumanity?
From Buddha this sentence seems to come: "In the society many forget the most important, the humanity"!
Not stronger, further, higher, but more human, more conscious, with decency, man should behave in difficult times.
Gandhi said: "You and I are one. I cannot hurt you without hurting myself".
Now, concepts such as cohesion, help, understanding and compassion are the values to live by. In good times and in bad times, the wedding is called. Preaching values and ideals in good times, it's not easy at all, but in a difficult phase, that's when character shows itself. And believe me, the crisis passes, the bad character remains.
A person feels transformed as soon as he is treated humanely.
In difficult moments, the words of the enlightened Buddha may give comfort, his teaching is built on humanity. Take advantage of the crisis and let yourself be inspired by the statements of the holy man, bring peace and a stable center into your life through his example, rethink the way you treat the people who are close to you, go 'within yourself'.
A collective hypochondria towards the dangers of life is counterproductive, LIFE IS DANGEROUS, we can all take our last breath at any time, tomorrow is not today, what is to come is uncertain, but how we live, we can determine, we can be measured by it.
Albert Einstein, whom I adore, said, "Two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, but I am not quite sure about the universe."
And Confucius said, "Stupidity is not knowing little, nor wanting to know little, stupidity is believing you know enough!"
I, for one, love the stupidity of my fellow man.
There is also a basic right to stupidity
- Roman Herzog - Former President of the Federal Republic of Germany - 1934 to 2017.
Human stupidity is international
- Kurt Tucholsky - German journalist and writer - 1890 to 1935
With (the) stupidity gods themselves fight in vain
- Friedrich Schiller - The Maid of Orleans - German playwright - 1759 to 1805
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 times of crisis the character of a person, the population, shows! If yesterday we were good and noble, today everyone is the next to himself.
Fights over toilet paper, the mother of a friend was stolen noodles FROM THE SHOPPING TROLLEY, all of a sudden, all the countries cut themselves off, yesterday still cosmopolitan and tolerant, today closed and aggressive, within a few days, many of my fellow men have turned into zombies, the Walking Dead, finally live and in color.
So completely I can not understand the attitude of some zombies (formerly fellow humans), we all have to die, so why this inhumanity?
From Buddha this sentence seems to come: "In the society many forget the most important, the humanity"!
Not stronger, further, higher, but more human, more conscious, with decency, man should behave in difficult times.
Gandhi said: "You and I are one. I cannot hurt you without hurting myself".
Now, concepts such as cohesion, help, understanding and compassion are the values to live by. In good times and in bad times, the wedding is called. Preaching values and ideals in good times, it's not easy at all, but in a difficult phase, that's when character shows itself. And believe me, the crisis passes, the bad character remains.
A person feels transformed as soon as he is treated humanely.
In difficult moments, the words of the enlightened Buddha may give comfort, his teaching is built on humanity. Take advantage of the crisis and let yourself be inspired by the statements of the holy man, bring peace and a stable center into your life through his example, rethink the way you treat the people who are close to you, go 'within yourself'.
A collective hypochondria towards the dangers of life is counterproductive, LIFE IS DANGEROUS, we can all take our last breath at any time, tomorrow is not today, what is to come is uncertain, but how we live, we can determine, we can be measured by it.
Albert Einstein, whom I adore, said, "Two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, but I am not quite sure about the universe."
And Confucius said, "Stupidity is not knowing little, nor wanting to know little, stupidity is believing you know enough!"
I, for one, love the stupidity of my fellow man.
There is also a basic right to stupidity
- Roman Herzog - Former President of the Federal Republic of Germany - 1934 to 2017.
Human stupidity is international
- Kurt Tucholsky - German journalist and writer - 1890 to 1935
With (the) stupidity gods themselves fight in vain
- Friedrich Schiller - The Maid of Orleans - German playwright - 1759 to 1805
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
Your best teacher is your last mistake
If we make one mistake and do not correct it, we are already making the second.
Mistakes are part of life, we all make mistakes.
The question is, how do we deal with it, what do we do when we realize the mistake?
Often we notice the mistake the moment we make it.
But what can we do, should we "fix it" even at the risk of "losing face"? Or look aside in shame and "forget about it"?
Buddha said: There are only two mistakes one can make on the path to truth - Not going all the way, or not starting it!
So, according to the historical great man, we should walk the path of reality, clearing the oversight. My mother always says, "Son, what is true you may say".
So a Buddhist should have the human greatness to admit his shortcomings, to stand by his actions, and to try to correct them if possible. Because according to Buddha, soft can be stronger than hard.
Shame is a natural feeling, such as when we have done something wrong, we feel ashamed. But isn't it clearly better for us if we overcome this brief moment of insecurity, muster the inner virtue and "fix" the mistake right now?
Yes, it is!
Because an oversight can quickly turn into a bigger lie, the untruth then gives rise to suffering, for us and for those around us, the popular saying goes: "a mosquito gives rise to an elephant".
Example: I do not tell my wife that a colleague "adores" me in the office. When she happens to see the co-worker with me on the street, she thinks I am having an affair with her. Because I did not clear up the mistake at the beginning, a real problem arises, we all know such situations, often it goes well, but sometimes "the shot backfires".
Learning from mistakes and mishaps brings us further, we also grow from the mistakes we make. But only if we stand by these "weak points", if we see them as part of our life, if we start to see our mistakes as positive as our strengths, because where there are no mountains, there are no valleys.
So, the next mistake you make, you should celebrate it, really celebrate it, enjoy it, because it is a part of your self, your being, your personality. Just like the solution to the problem, you should also "celebrate" it and "experience" it in its entirety.
In a great book I read: "For he who is free from error, let him cast the first stone".
When the first missionaries came to Africa, they had the Bible and we had the land. They asked us to pray. And we closed our eyes. When we opened them again, the situation was reversed: we had the Bible and they had the land.
- Desmond Mpilo Tutu - South African clergyman - born 1931
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
If we make one mistake and do not correct it, we are already making the second.
Mistakes are part of life, we all make mistakes.
The question is, how do we deal with it, what do we do when we realize the mistake?
Often we notice the mistake the moment we make it.
But what can we do, should we "fix it" even at the risk of "losing face"? Or look aside in shame and "forget about it"?
Buddha said: There are only two mistakes one can make on the path to truth - Not going all the way, or not starting it!
So, according to the historical great man, we should walk the path of reality, clearing the oversight. My mother always says, "Son, what is true you may say".
So a Buddhist should have the human greatness to admit his shortcomings, to stand by his actions, and to try to correct them if possible. Because according to Buddha, soft can be stronger than hard.
Shame is a natural feeling, such as when we have done something wrong, we feel ashamed. But isn't it clearly better for us if we overcome this brief moment of insecurity, muster the inner virtue and "fix" the mistake right now?
Yes, it is!
Because an oversight can quickly turn into a bigger lie, the untruth then gives rise to suffering, for us and for those around us, the popular saying goes: "a mosquito gives rise to an elephant".
Example: I do not tell my wife that a colleague "adores" me in the office. When she happens to see the co-worker with me on the street, she thinks I am having an affair with her. Because I did not clear up the mistake at the beginning, a real problem arises, we all know such situations, often it goes well, but sometimes "the shot backfires".
Learning from mistakes and mishaps brings us further, we also grow from the mistakes we make. But only if we stand by these "weak points", if we see them as part of our life, if we start to see our mistakes as positive as our strengths, because where there are no mountains, there are no valleys.
So, the next mistake you make, you should celebrate it, really celebrate it, enjoy it, because it is a part of your self, your being, your personality. Just like the solution to the problem, you should also "celebrate" it and "experience" it in its entirety.
In a great book I read: "For he who is free from error, let him cast the first stone".
When the first missionaries came to Africa, they had the Bible and we had the land. They asked us to pray. And we closed our eyes. When we opened them again, the situation was reversed: we had the Bible and they had the land.
- Desmond Mpilo Tutu - South African clergyman - born 1931
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
4 Minuten
Winter Solstice
Twice a year the sun turns, from the highest to the lowest position of the sun.
Starting today, the days are getting longer again, life will soon awaken tentatively.
Already our ancestors revered the sun, myths were about the special days, special festivals were celebrated.
In the Germanic Julfest the Christmas festival could have its origin, also the celebrations around the sun god Sol are celebrated at the winter solstice.
You are a sun in my night. My night is a sun in yours
- Jean Genet - French novelist - 1910 to 1986
Since the sun remains stationary, anything that appears to be the movement of the sun is more likely due to the movement of the earth
- Nicolaus Copernicus - Prussian astronomer - 1473 to 1543
Some would also strike at the sun if it offended them
- Herman Melville - US writer, poet and essayist - 1818 to 1891
My Publikations:
1.) App "Buddha-Blog-English", see on Apple and Android stores
2.) The Webseite "Shaolin-Rainer", also as an App, on Apple and Android (with fully icluded translation from German to 163 languages (by Google))
3.) The App "SleepwithSounds" as a sleep aid or meditation timer, in Apple and Android stores
4.) Buddha Blog English Podcast (weekly)
5.) Buddhism in daily life Podcast (daily)
6.) Facebook (@BuddhaBlogApp) (mostly German)
7.) Telegram Channel: https://t.me/buddhablog (mostly German)
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
Twice a year the sun turns, from the highest to the lowest position of the sun.
Starting today, the days are getting longer again, life will soon awaken tentatively.
Already our ancestors revered the sun, myths were about the special days, special festivals were celebrated.
In the Germanic Julfest the Christmas festival could have its origin, also the celebrations around the sun god Sol are celebrated at the winter solstice.
You are a sun in my night. My night is a sun in yours
- Jean Genet - French novelist - 1910 to 1986
Since the sun remains stationary, anything that appears to be the movement of the sun is more likely due to the movement of the earth
- Nicolaus Copernicus - Prussian astronomer - 1473 to 1543
Some would also strike at the sun if it offended them
- Herman Melville - US writer, poet and essayist - 1818 to 1891
My Publikations:
1.) App "Buddha-Blog-English", see on Apple and Android stores
2.) The Webseite "Shaolin-Rainer", also as an App, on Apple and Android (with fully icluded translation from German to 163 languages (by Google))
3.) The App "SleepwithSounds" as a sleep aid or meditation timer, in Apple and Android stores
4.) Buddha Blog English Podcast (weekly)
5.) Buddhism in daily life Podcast (daily)
6.) Facebook (@BuddhaBlogApp) (mostly German)
7.) Telegram Channel: https://t.me/buddhablog (mostly German)
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
Shi Miao Hai - Let Go and Enjoy
I learned today that life can be like a roller coaster.
It always goes up and down, to the right and to the left, just like in life; sometimes we have many friends, sometimes we have little to laugh about, sometimes we have a lot of money, sometimes little, sometimes we are very lucky, sometimes not.
Often we deprive ourselves of the joy of life by holding on to conditions even though they are constantly changing.
So the art of life (if you want to enjoy the roller coaster ride) is to simply let go and put your hands up, we stay in our center and enjoy the ride, simply because we want to enjoy the moment.
Neither past nor future, but simply letting go and enjoying is the order of the day.
If we tense up and hold on the roller coaster, we would hold on to the worries and feelings, and not just let these things flow on. In order to find back to our inner center, we need to find ways to get things flowing again, so that we are not living in the past or the future, but also so that life can really flow.
In these stormy times, with many imponderables, more and more people are looking for a foothold in life. Here the teaching of the historical Buddha can become an anchor and a harbor. The core of the teaching is the journey to "awakening".
This journey begins, like every journey, with a small step.
Do you want to take this step? Just the first one? And then see how you feel about it, what your feelings are, what mood moves you, how your contemplation is reflected, whether the path "nestles at your feet"?
Let go and enjoy!
ALL CREATURES EXCEPT HUMANS KNOW THAT THE MAIN PURPOSE OF LIFE IS TO ENJOY IT.
- SAMUEL BUTLER - BRITISH WRITER - 1835 TO 1902
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
I learned today that life can be like a roller coaster.
It always goes up and down, to the right and to the left, just like in life; sometimes we have many friends, sometimes we have little to laugh about, sometimes we have a lot of money, sometimes little, sometimes we are very lucky, sometimes not.
Often we deprive ourselves of the joy of life by holding on to conditions even though they are constantly changing.
So the art of life (if you want to enjoy the roller coaster ride) is to simply let go and put your hands up, we stay in our center and enjoy the ride, simply because we want to enjoy the moment.
Neither past nor future, but simply letting go and enjoying is the order of the day.
If we tense up and hold on the roller coaster, we would hold on to the worries and feelings, and not just let these things flow on. In order to find back to our inner center, we need to find ways to get things flowing again, so that we are not living in the past or the future, but also so that life can really flow.
In these stormy times, with many imponderables, more and more people are looking for a foothold in life. Here the teaching of the historical Buddha can become an anchor and a harbor. The core of the teaching is the journey to "awakening".
This journey begins, like every journey, with a small step.
Do you want to take this step? Just the first one? And then see how you feel about it, what your feelings are, what mood moves you, how your contemplation is reflected, whether the path "nestles at your feet"?
Let go and enjoy!
ALL CREATURES EXCEPT HUMANS KNOW THAT THE MAIN PURPOSE OF LIFE IS TO ENJOY IT.
- SAMUEL BUTLER - BRITISH WRITER - 1835 TO 1902
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
"Draw me a sheep ..."
Who knows this sentence? Correct, it comes from "The Little Prince" by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, published at the time of the Second World War. I highly recommend the book, it is critical of the evaluation of outward appearances instead of human values, a clear criticism of the decay of the morals of that time (similar problems as nowadays as well).
Here is told about a small boy who comes from an asteroid. Since only he inhabits the celestial body (with a rose he loves so much) he travels to the planets in the vicinity, where he meets other (also lonely) people who live in their selfishness and carry their problems with them, important values have been lost for a very long time.
When he then comes to earth, the boy first meets a snake that wants to bite him, then a fox that explains the world to him. Thereby sentences of true greatness fall, like this: "you are responsible all your life for what you have made familiar to yourself".
Yes, as a Buddhist you also have to think about whether you make someone or something familiar to yourself, from the decision to call this or that 'my own' arises clear responsibility (regardless of personal karma).
Whether we get a dog or a cat, continue to meet with a 'date', open a business or take a job, beget a child, no matter what we make ourselves familiar is now in our area of responsibility, belongs to us. Unfortunately, very few people see it this way, in fact, many people take one partner after another (life partner, business partner, partner in every possible sense) without having thought about it beforehand, without having or wanting to take on a shred of responsibility, and thus create suffering in their counterpart. They consume people or things, without decency and values, simply without thinking further, without using even a thought to the possible consequences.
If I enter into any relationship, that is, go into my word, then I have thought about it carefully, not just out of boredom also 'still taken', I then have the decency to say NO even if I know that this situation is not for me, would only serve my distraction, has no substance and no value in my life.
It takes a certain size to say NO, an inner firmness. But if I don't want something (or someone) in my life, can't or don't want to take responsibility, then I have to say NO, because a wrong YES will often end in disaster (small or big shows time).
The sentence of Saint-Exupéry has influenced me very much, unconsciously I have acted according to it for a long time, only much later I became aware of the implications of his words: "responsible all my life for what I have made familiar to myself"!
However, my behavior is not a one-way street. As a studied lawyer I see "making familiar" as a kind of mutual contract. If now my "contracting party" breaks the trust agreement I can also terminate the contract, then I am released from my word. But otherwise the contract stands.
How much I would wish that more people read the "little prince", understand it and act accordingly.
Like in Buddhism! Right seeing, right recognizing, right speaking and right acting!
After a while the little prince recognizes the world fixated on externals, and returns to his rose on his planet.
Life is a journey. Do not take too much baggage with you
- Billy Idol - British rock musician - born 1955
Copyright: https://shaolin-rainer.de
(Please also download my app "Buddha-Blog English" from the Apple and Android stores)
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Who knows this sentence? Correct, it comes from "The Little Prince" by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, published at the time of the Second World War. I highly recommend the book, it is critical of the evaluation of outward appearances instead of human values, a clear criticism of the decay of the morals of that time (similar problems as nowadays as well).
Here is told about a small boy who comes from an asteroid. Since only he inhabits the celestial body (with a rose he loves so much) he travels to the planets in the vicinity, where he meets other (also lonely) people who live in their selfishness and carry their problems with them, important values have been lost for a very long time.
When he then comes to earth, the boy first meets a snake that wants to bite him, then a fox that explains the world to him. Thereby sentences of true greatness fall, like this: "you are responsible all your life for what you have made familiar to yourself".
Yes, as a Buddhist you also have to think about whether you make someone or something familiar to yourself, from the decision to call this or that 'my own' arises clear responsibility (regardless of personal karma).
Whether we get a dog or a cat, continue to meet with a 'date', open a business or take a job, beget a child, no matter what we make ourselves familiar is now in our area of responsibility, belongs to us. Unfortunately, very few people see it this way, in fact, many people take one partner after another (life partner, business partner, partner in every possible sense) without having thought about it beforehand, without having or wanting to take on a shred of responsibility, and thus create suffering in their counterpart. They consume people or things, without decency and values, simply without thinking further, without using even a thought to the possible consequences.
If I enter into any relationship, that is, go into my word, then I have thought about it carefully, not just out of boredom also 'still taken', I then have the decency to say NO even if I know that this situation is not for me, would only serve my distraction, has no substance and no value in my life.
It takes a certain size to say NO, an inner firmness. But if I don't want something (or someone) in my life, can't or don't want to take responsibility, then I have to say NO, because a wrong YES will often end in disaster (small or big shows time).
The sentence of Saint-Exupéry has influenced me very much, unconsciously I have acted according to it for a long time, only much later I became aware of the implications of his words: "responsible all my life for what I have made familiar to myself"!
However, my behavior is not a one-way street. As a studied lawyer I see "making familiar" as a kind of mutual contract. If now my "contracting party" breaks the trust agreement I can also terminate the contract, then I am released from my word. But otherwise the contract stands.
How much I would wish that more people read the "little prince", understand it and act accordingly.
Like in Buddhism! Right seeing, right recognizing, right speaking and right acting!
After a while the little prince recognizes the world fixated on externals, and returns to his rose on his planet.
Life is a journey. Do not take too much baggage with you
- Billy Idol - British rock musician - born 1955
Copyright: https://shaolin-rainer.de
(Please also download my app "Buddha-Blog English" from the Apple and Android stores)
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7 Minuten
Buddhism is like riding a bicycle
To reach enlightenment you just have to keep riding!
Albert Einstein, whom I admire very much, said: "Life is like riding a bicycle - to keep your balance you have to keep moving"! An almost Buddhist saying, which is why his sentence inspired me to write today's article.
Whoever follows the teachings of Buddha can only have one goal: "Enlightenment"!
The legacy of the great man was his awakening, his message to us is that enlightenment is in everyone and can be achieved by all.
What do I mean by "Buddhism is like riding a bicycle?" Well, a Buddhist cannot follow the teachings of the historical model in 'part-time', either you are a Buddhist, or you are not.
Thus, the philosophy of Buddha penetrates into all areas of our lives, such as the way we treat other people, what and how we eat, how we earn our living, how we look at things, even our political attitude, but also general views on life, as in the great religions (charity, decency, honor), are influenced.
In this context, it is not so easy to "stop the bike", to pause the ride. A big problem for outsiders are the confusing "rules" of the different Buddhist communities, depending on the various Buddhist branches, the guidelines differ partly very much, quite different traditions developed in the different Asian countries.
I follow the Buddhist lineage of Shaolin Temple, which was founded by Bodhidharma around 500 AD. This philosophy of introspection, derived from Mahayana Buddhism, is called "Chan Buddhism" in China, while in the West its teachings became known as "Zen Buddhism".
Characteristic of Chan (Zen) is meditation (mindfulness or concentration exercises) as a spiritual practice that expands consciousness. The goal is the experience of enlightenment (as exemplified by the historical Buddha). It is important for all Buddhists to always continue the journey (with the imaginary bicycle), not to stop the aspirations, not to interrupt the journey to enlightenment.
Joachim Ringelnatz wrote the following in 1933: In Hamburg lived two ants who wanted to travel to Australia. Near Altona on the Chaussee, there their legs hurt, and there they wisely then renounced the last part of the journey.
The journey to "enlightenment", there can also sometimes 'hurt our legs', there can be setbacks, self-doubt, perhaps lack of understanding in the environment, why am I doing this, is this really the right thing for me, can I also achieve awakening?
Yes, we can, the historical Buddha has left us his message, his legacy, everyone can awaken, enlightenment is already within us, we have to bring it out from under the many broken pieces of our lives, sweep the dust from our souls, find our true being again under all the rubble of our history.
No one said the journey would be easy, that our legs wouldn't hurt along the way. But the journey is worth it. Promise! Just keep going!
Listen to the article as a podcast click
To travel with a guide is a blessing, to travel without one is the opposite
- Mark Twain - American writer - 1835 to 1910
It is not the destination, it is the journey
- Ralph Waldo Emerson - American philosopher and writer - 1803 to 1882
Only through regular exercise could one move forward
- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe - German poet - 1749 to 1832
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
To reach enlightenment you just have to keep riding!
Albert Einstein, whom I admire very much, said: "Life is like riding a bicycle - to keep your balance you have to keep moving"! An almost Buddhist saying, which is why his sentence inspired me to write today's article.
Whoever follows the teachings of Buddha can only have one goal: "Enlightenment"!
The legacy of the great man was his awakening, his message to us is that enlightenment is in everyone and can be achieved by all.
What do I mean by "Buddhism is like riding a bicycle?" Well, a Buddhist cannot follow the teachings of the historical model in 'part-time', either you are a Buddhist, or you are not.
Thus, the philosophy of Buddha penetrates into all areas of our lives, such as the way we treat other people, what and how we eat, how we earn our living, how we look at things, even our political attitude, but also general views on life, as in the great religions (charity, decency, honor), are influenced.
In this context, it is not so easy to "stop the bike", to pause the ride. A big problem for outsiders are the confusing "rules" of the different Buddhist communities, depending on the various Buddhist branches, the guidelines differ partly very much, quite different traditions developed in the different Asian countries.
I follow the Buddhist lineage of Shaolin Temple, which was founded by Bodhidharma around 500 AD. This philosophy of introspection, derived from Mahayana Buddhism, is called "Chan Buddhism" in China, while in the West its teachings became known as "Zen Buddhism".
Characteristic of Chan (Zen) is meditation (mindfulness or concentration exercises) as a spiritual practice that expands consciousness. The goal is the experience of enlightenment (as exemplified by the historical Buddha). It is important for all Buddhists to always continue the journey (with the imaginary bicycle), not to stop the aspirations, not to interrupt the journey to enlightenment.
Joachim Ringelnatz wrote the following in 1933: In Hamburg lived two ants who wanted to travel to Australia. Near Altona on the Chaussee, there their legs hurt, and there they wisely then renounced the last part of the journey.
The journey to "enlightenment", there can also sometimes 'hurt our legs', there can be setbacks, self-doubt, perhaps lack of understanding in the environment, why am I doing this, is this really the right thing for me, can I also achieve awakening?
Yes, we can, the historical Buddha has left us his message, his legacy, everyone can awaken, enlightenment is already within us, we have to bring it out from under the many broken pieces of our lives, sweep the dust from our souls, find our true being again under all the rubble of our history.
No one said the journey would be easy, that our legs wouldn't hurt along the way. But the journey is worth it. Promise! Just keep going!
Listen to the article as a podcast click
To travel with a guide is a blessing, to travel without one is the opposite
- Mark Twain - American writer - 1835 to 1910
It is not the destination, it is the journey
- Ralph Waldo Emerson - American philosopher and writer - 1803 to 1882
Only through regular exercise could one move forward
- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe - German poet - 1749 to 1832
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
