Sunyatta Journals

I am mostly western-educated, and I have had the skepticism about filial piety that people like me tend to have. I once talked to a monk who talked about the debt of gratitude we owe our parents, and being an angsty teenager, I was immediately skeptical. I remember asking the monk directly "is it not possible for your parents to be such terrible people that they are not deserving of love and gratitude?". I didn't understand the answer very well, but I remember it was some form of "no". I still think it was a fair question. We often hear about parents who have committed unspeakable atrocities to their children, or raise them with such neglect that the children become a menace to the world. Do even those parents deserve gratitude? Today I think the answer is clear to me. If I could talk to my teenage self, I would offer the following corrections to his world view. Firstly, to be grateful to your parents does not always equate to being blindly obedient. It is to fo...

Mara thrives on division and hatred. Mara thrives on me and mine, my ally, my enemy, my country, my views Mara thrives when there's a "them" to hate, when there's something you want to see dead, someone you wish to see gone, someone you wish ill upon. Oh, how satisfying a meal that is for Mara. The supply of nourishment has never been so abundant. It thrives with such vigor and destroys all in its path. Piece by piece, once peaceful countries crumble. Don't you see it? For humanity to survive this shattering, you must reject Mara. Align with its ideals, and you only have a life of suffering ahead. When you say "let's work together", Mara retreats. When you set aside your differences and remember we're all human, Mara cries out in pain. When you feel grateful for what you have, Mara is gravely wounded. When you spread compassion in the face of hardship, Mara is vanquished. Mara is naught but the corruptor of our mind, Who has built a palace there...

In an earlier post I've discussed how the use of language can highly depend on the mind behind the language. If the mind is selfish, even a beautiful word like love can be used selfishly. I find the same goes for holidays. When I was first introduced to Christmas traditions as a new immigrant, I was in my youth. My first impression was that it was a very materialistic occasion. As someone who was not well off, the gift-giving tradition and the peer pressure to return favours only brought me anguish, and so, I grew to resent the holiday. Now I can see it was ultimately my fault. My mind was full of darkness. I did not see giving as a sincere act, but rather the product of pressure or to avoid being shamed. This warped reality may be true for some, but not all. My mind refused to see the sincere compassion that I was surrounded by. Strangely, now that I've seen a glimpse of the universal truth of compassion, I see the holiday vastly differently. Outwardly, nothing really changed....

I've gone through a small revelation recently, that someone whom I've regarded as willfully negligent simply does not perceive the world the same way as I do. I've spent a long time believing that they were purposely trying to hurt me by putting in less effort into everything. But then I realized... that's how they are. Or rather, this is how I am. I am a worrywart, and they are carefree. Neither is wrong. Ever since I've reached that understanding, all the resentment had disappeared. I mean I'm still not going to entrust important jobs to that person, but it's not personal anymore. Isn't it funny? We already know that hoarding things as mine, mine, and mine will cause suffering. It just never occurred to me that we can hoard other people's problems too. I've spent many years asking why this person is hurting me, but it's really my fault I've taken something that isn't mine. I give the problem back to its rightful owner. Let them walk...

And indeed it must be apparent by now that the so-called evil must all borrow the strength of the masses to carry out their missions. An evil person in isolation is an insignificant threat. When the people willingly lend their strength to further the evil cause, that's when evil triumphs. When you read about some trouble and think "I must do something", are you certain you're not one of the pawns? If everyone learned to be equanimous and when faced with tantalizing passion, then evil would lose the means by which they borrow strength. The widespread belief that passion and urgent action is needed to combat evil is, I feel, misguided. This is not to say we must not act at all, but do not act on passion, act with clarity. If we must act, teach your friends and neighbours the power of equanimity. You'd directly take the weapons away from evil.

You need not adorn your house with his likeness, but instead adorn your heart with his teachings.