Peace Begins with You

Whatever the situation,

we cannot make peace

unless we ourselves are peaceful.

When the crowded refugee boats met with storms or pirates,

if everyone panicked, all would be lost.

But if even one person on the boat remained calm and centered,

it was enought.

It showed the way for people to survive.

- Thich Nhat Hanh

There are those who discover they can leave behind destructive reactions and become patient as the earth,

unmoved by fires of anger or fear,

unshaken as a pillar, unperturbed as a clear and quiet pool.

- The Buddha (Dhammapada)

~ Excertped from The Art of Forgiveness, Lovingkindness & Peace (Jack Kornfield)

Communicating with Compassion (The Dalai Lama)

I think that in many cases people tend to expect the other person to respond to them in a positive way first, rather than taking the initiative themselves to create that possibility.

I feel that's wrong; it leads to problems and can act as a barrier that just serves to promote a feeling of isolation from others.

So if you wish to overcome that feeling of isolation and loneliness, I think that your underlying attitude makes a tremendous difference. And approaching others with the thought of compassion in your mind is the best way to do this.

Within all beings there is the seed of perfection. However, compassion is required in order to activate that seed which is inherent in our hearts and minds.

Whenever I meet people I always approach them from the standpoint of the most basic things we have in common.

We each have a physical structure, a mind, emotions.

We are all born in the same way, and we all die.

All of us want happiness and do not want to suffer.

Looking at others from this standpoint rather than emphasising secondary differences, such as the fact that I am Tibetan, or a different colour, religion or cultural background, allows me to have a feeling that I'm meeting someone just the same as me.

I find that relating to others on that level makes it easier to exchange and communicate with one another.

~ Excerpted from The Essence of Happiness: A Guidebook for Living (His Holiness the Dalai Lama) and Howard C.Cutler, M.D.

The Other Side (Buddhist humour)

One day a young Buddhist on his journey home, came to the banks of a wide river. Staring hopelessly at the great obstacle in front of him, he pondered for hours on just how to cross such a wide barrier. Just as he was about to give up his pursuit to continue his journey, he saw a great teacher on the other side of the river. The young Buddhist yells over to the teacher, "Oh wise one, can you tell me how to get to the other side of this river?"

The teacher ponders for a moment, looks up and down the river and yells back, "My son, you are on the other side."

Walking on Water

Three monks decided to practise meditation together. They sat by the side of a lake and closed their eyes in concentration.

Then suddenly, the first one stood up and said, "I forgot my mat."He stepped miraculously onto the water in front of him and walked across the lake to their hut on the other side. When he returned, the second monk stood up and said, "I forgot to put my other underwear to dry." He too walked calmly across the water and returned the same way.

The third monk watched the first two carefully in what he decided must be the test of his own abilities. "Is your learning superior to mine? I too can match any feat you two can perform," he declared loudly and rushed to the water's edge to walk across it. He promptly fell into the deep water. Undeterred, the yogi climbed out of the water and tried again, only to sink into the water. Yet again he climbed out and yet again he tried, each time sinking into the water. This went on for some time as the other two monks watched.

After a while, the second monk turned to the first and said, "Do you think we should tell him where the stones are?"

Photo credit: Godzdogz

Compassion with an Umbrella

A Western Buddhist woman was in India, studying with her teacher. She was riding with another woman friend in a rickshaw-like carriage, when they were attacked by a man on the street. In the end, the attacker only succeeded in frightening the women, but the Buddhist woman was quite upset by the event and told her teacher so.

She asked him what she should have done - what would have been the appropriate, Buddhist response. The teacher said, very simply, "You should have very mindfully and with great compassion whacked the attacker over the head with your umbrella."