Some Buddhist thoughts

[Dawning]

I am not a Buddhist but I was recently sent this and I thought - regardless of anyone's religious leanings...it is uplifting.  So my wish for you all today is to to have an uplifting day.  xxxooo.


``There is a saying, `A small heart gets used to
misery and beceoms docile, while a great heart towers
above misfortune.` True happiness is not the absence
of suffering, ; you cannot have day after day of clear
skies. True happiness lies in building a self that
stands dignified and indomitable like a great palace
-- on all days, even when it is raining, snowing or
stormy.``

Here`s another one too (forgive me!) `Our lives are
infinitely precious. Not to attain a state of absolute
happiness in this life time is a great loss.``

[Anonymous]

Thanks Dawning:

Just noticed your post and these are very uplifting.  

I'm not sure if absolute happiness is attainable but it is certainly something to strive for.

Thanks for posting these.

GFN

[mum]

Thanks, Dawning. I am very fond of Buddhism and a lot of other philosophies , but I am not a practicing "anything" exactly, though.
 My favorite Buddhist writer is Pema Chodron.  I have lots of her work and I would encourage anyone to read it, as it is thoroughly accessible to anyone, of any "faith".  Thanks so much for sharing those with us!

GFN: "absolute happiness" is not really a goal.......but a mindset for a journey.. everything changes, the only thing permanent is impermanence....so IN every single moment, happiness is possible, and there is nothing more than NOW.........so why isn't absolute happiness possible? If we think it isn't, it surely isn't.........but if we think it might be.....

Some pain in the butt musings (but happy ones, no?)

[d's mom]

Thanks, Dawning. I am very fond of Buddhism and a lot of other philosophies , but I am not a practicing "anything" exactly, though.
 My favorite Buddhist writer is Pema Chodron.  

hi mum - hope you are well. im so glad to see someone else is familiar with pema chodron. i read her book 'start where you are' (isnt that it?) and i use her techniques allll the time. prety much every day in fact. they have gotten me through some awful times.

just saying hi & putting in a word for pema .:}
d's mom

[Anonymous]

Hi Mum:

Sorry it's taken me so long to get back to you here.  I don't look at this board very often.  

so why isn't absolute happiness possible?

I suppose it depends on how one defines absolute.  If I think of it as:

perfect, pure, unlimited, unconditional.....happiness, well I'm not sure that is possible for me.  When I am in pain....I do not feel that perfect, pure, unlimited, unconditional happiness I long for (because I don't like pain and it interferes in my thinking, which effects my emtions).

On the other hand, if I think of absolute as being:

not to be doubted or questioned, positive, something to be regarded as the ultimate basis of thought and being, as a philosophical point as independant and unrelated to anything else......well then, I guess it is possible to experience absolute happiness....as a choice.

I guess, when I originally read this post I was thinking more in the lines that it would be impossible for me to feel absolute happiness, all of the time, no matter what the circumstances.  But ofcourse, you are correct to say that if I believe/focus on that idea, it would be definately be impossible.

If, on the other hand, I decide to embrace happiness and consider it independant of anything else, unrelated to all else, and not doubt or question that it is possible to achieve, as a positive basis of thought and being......then yes....I can be absolutely happy....no matter what else is going on in my life.

Do you know what I mean?  Happiness, like so much else, is a state of being which is a choice, absolutely.  I can be stricken with the most atrocious of burdens/pain/circumstances and still chose to be happy.  My happiness is indeed something independant/unrelated to all else in my life because......I don't doubt or question that happiness is a positive that is ultimately a basic thought process....something I can choose to focus on and embrace.

Thanks for getting me to think about that a little more Mum.

         

GFN

[mum]

Hey, GFN, I don't check this too regularly either, but I think we are on the same page with this.  Happiness is a choice, and it is a feeling , which is internal, so it is always within our control.  Needless to say, this is the ultimate in humanity's struggle, for we need certain conditions for us NOT to be in survival mode all the time.  But for those who have been victimized or voiceless/powerless at one point, the "line" or "boundary" we need to set to NOT accept abuse is difficult to ascertain.  So, in a way, it's harder to be "happy" when we feel certain conditions (like not being abused) are keeping us in survival mode.

When I think of Nelson Mandela, Mahatma Ghandi,  Martin Luther King and even Jesus, I think of souls who have made an overt decision to keep boundaries while here on this earth  and not deviate from thier good intentions regardless of the outward circumstances handed to them (because of those beliefs!!).

It's about transcendance, ascension, (sp?).  We are human, however, and even Jesus lost faith from time to time (his sorrow in the Garden before his death comes to mind).  So what if we fall face flat into the mud and say:  "oh, Man! I'm HERE again?"
It's inevitable.  It's the human condition. How long we stay in that mud is what it's about I think.  Getting up, saying, "oh well, that hurt like heck" and STILL mvong through life with loving intention and faith that love really IS what matters....that's what happiness is all about.

Everything is fleeting.  We are all on changing ground...nothing is permanent.....not even happiness.  But knowing what happiness feels like, and knowing what unhappiness feels like gives us this choice every time we get pushed into the mud.
I am currently covered in mud, but it is starting to dry and flake off....and my skin will be georgeous because of it (like that analogy?)

Anyway, thank YOU for getting me to get "out of myself" today and think about higher things (than my current "troubles").

[missm]

I consider Pema Chodron and Alice Miller to be my "double-barrel" approach to dealing with the lingering effects of being raised by a narcissist.  Pema has a wonderfully down to earth way of interpreting Shambala Buddhism, one that I think is easy for a westerner to understand and practice.  Both are wise, compassionate women  who understand the difficulty and rewards of being authentic and self-aware.