No Pill Will Take This Pain Away
Growing up in an abusive family and culture I never really knew what morality and virtuous behavior was. My step- father abused me, my pain brought him pleasure. My government, many of our transnational banks and corporations, and our institutions profit from war, our ignorance, and suffering. I had to learn from scratch what the virtues are and how to use them correctly. In my early 30s, everything I thought I knew was wrong when it came to being a good person. I was basically like a blind person feeling my way through life.
Watercolor and gouache , all paintings are drawn or painted by Red DustThe virtues act like a shield that protects ones mind. The virtues that I try and cultivate are kindness, generosity, right conduct, patience, sympathetic joy, and right effort. I have links posted at the bottom of this article that explains what right means, like in right conduct, right effort, right path. One of my first questions to Sunim was, "what does right mean?" The virtues when practiced with wisdom generate a peaceful space around oneself for others to see themselves clearly.
I learned through meditation everything I did was coupled with ignorance. Ignorance regarding my conditioning that colored all my actions. Even though I acted kind, I wasn't really being kind and many times my acts of kindness didn't turn out very well. Kinda like rescuing fish from slaughter and turning them loose in a river, only for the rescued fish to breed the native fish out of existence. My teachers call that foolish compassion.
In today's society I'm bombarded with hate, fear, greed, lust, and ignorance from everyside. Where can I hide? Even if I ran and hid in a cave far away from my troubled family and society, I've been conditioned by the environment I grew up in. I'd take all that negativity with me.
My first question to myself, "Why am I causing myself so much suffering?" The question lead me to my first Buddhist teacher Sunim and some awesome adventures that had nothing to do with traveling to exotic far away places. But I did travel to unknown places within my own mind.
The people that taught me the virtues were very humble, they did not flaunt or show these qualities off. My Buddhist teachers had years of practice so their use of the virtues were very subtle. I try every day to copy them, but I am still struggling. I have a really bad temper and I'm lazy! Good Buddhist teachers teach through their actions not with their words or writings.
I took the virtues up as my primary practice coupled with meditation because I read they are the primary practice of all Bodhisattvas. A bodhisattva is someone who aspires to become a Buddha. Buddhas teach people how to save themselves and I'm still trying to save myself! To tell you the truth, I never wanted to be a Buddha. But I want a Buddha like mind, calm centered and helpful to self and other.
A Bodhisattva vow is given early in Mahayana practice, my first teacher is a monk from the Korean Buddhist tradition. I took my Bodhisattva vow after six months of study and after my first vipassana retreat.
My drawing of Mudra and MalaShame On You
Then there is shame, shame has gotten a bad rap in Western society. Sexuality, gender, race, and class shame have nothing to do with the shame I study and practice. The shame I've seen used today is used to manipulate people, to hurt , profit and control others.
The shame I learned through practice and study is like a guard that tells me when my behavior will cause me and other suffering. I feel shame when my action hurts someone else because of my ill will, laziness, ignorance, and so on. Thervada studies, shame is called the guardian of the mind.
I learned these strategies from my Buddhist teachers and they truly work! No magic pill, it takes time and lots of practice establishing new behaviors. Much like establishing a garden on fallow ground.
The rewards of virtue [Ananda:] "What, O Venerable One, is the reward and blessing of wholesome morality?"
[The Buddha:] "Freedom from remorse, Ananda."
"And of freedom from remorse?"
"Joy, Ananda"
"And of joy?"
"Rapture, Ananda"
"And of rapture?"
"Tranquillity, Ananda."
"And of tranquillity?"
"Happiness, Ananda."
"And of happiness?"
"Concentration, Ananda."
"And of concentration?"
"Vision and knowledge according to reality."
"And of the vision and knowledge according to reality?"
"Turning away and detachment, Ananda."
"And of turning away and detachment?"
"The vision and knowledge with regard to Deliverance, Ananda."
— AN 10.1 (Nyanatiloka, trans.; from Path to Deliverance, pp. 65-66)The six paramitas or 'transcendent perfections' (Skt. ṣaṭpāramitā; Tib. ཕ་རོལ་ཏུ་ཕྱིན་པ་དྲུག་, parol tu chinpa druk; Wyl. pha rol tu phyin pa drug) comprise the training of a bodhisattva, which is bodhichitta in action.
Generosity (Skt. dāna; Tib. སྦྱིན་པ་, jinpa): to cultivate the attitude of generosity.
Discipline (Skt. śīla; Tib. ཚུལ་ཁྲིམས་, tsultrim): refraining from harm.Patience (Skt. kṣānti; Tib. བཟོད་པ་, zöpa): the ability not to be perturbed by anything.
Diligence (Skt. vīrya; Tib. བརྩོན་འགྲུས་, tsöndrü): to find joy in what is virtuous, positive or wholesome.Meditative concentration (Skt. dhyāna; Tib. བསམ་གཏན་, samten): not to be distracted.
Wisdom (Skt. prajñā; Tib. ཤེས་རབ་, sherab): the perfect discrimination of phenomena, all knowable things.
great post!
THank you! When ever I write a post about my teachers I cry happy tears.
This, I am thankful for today.
This makes me happy, thank you🌸
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Sending hugs! ❤
Back at you by the power of ten🌸 Thank you🙏
You are so talented. I got in an upvote for you and beat the bot finally lol.
I did not grow up in a great home setting either. I am kind of blown away by your artsy talents, wow. Honestly.
You are so kind, thank you. I think we both have something called the hardiness factor, art was my way of escaping my situation. When I went away to retreat, coming back I lost that need to escape, a worn out habit. I also lost my need to paint and draw. It took many years to get the habit of painting and drawing back, so weird but true.
If you look me up online, you will see I don't retreat often, and when I do it is strategic for me. I have learned a lot in my activism and challenging the corrupt police state and overpaid politicians.
If you are referring to my one week #SteemitStrike on here -- it was based on my principles of people here being censored and marginalized at times, in a so called free/liberty based community. I don't chase money or people, so it was easy for me to walk away from decent rewards on here.
People mean more to me than money. Money (currency) is just needed to look after them (us) -- that's all. Something I have always done.
I have always appreciated you, I just never knew some of this about you, so I am glad I saw your post.
I will look your links up and ddrped you to my friends list. Thank you so much🌸
You are welcome. I have always noticed and appreciated your comments.
You can choose to see the mud or you find the only flower growing out of the earth. I always loved to water my lotus ponds back in Bali and I was wondering how it's possible to grow so beautifully out of so much dirt? I have photos but I am on my phone now and no idea how to to this.
I understand you so well and it takes a lifetime to learn that suffering is a part of all our lives and the moment you accept what the universe planned, you will feel free of pain.
You got an amazing gift. Enjoy the beauty!
I love to play in the mud!!! Get those picture and post them ...please🙏
I got so many Bali posts since I lived there for 16 years. Anyways, I will check tomorrow.
Stay lovely 😊
I bless you for now with some flowers 🌺 From my garden created for happiness but the paradise didn't last forever.
https://steemit.com/photography/@mammasitta/flowers-as-an-integral-part-of-daily-offerings-to-the-gods-and-goddesses-baliohbali
Thank yo, you made me smile, I get sad and miss my teachers every once in awhile.
This was my intention ☀️