Cultivate anguish

Thanissaro Bhikku, in his essay introducing Buddhism to new practitioners, said that we should cultivate feelings of anguish about the illness, aging and death in the world. If I may do so, I would extend those feelings of anguish to the poverty, war, and in general, all the stupid reasons that people hurt each other over. This is delicate act as it can easily be turned to despair. Despair is something that cannot be explained. It can only be felt. I think I may have almost given it to it, but the Bhagawad Geeta brought me back from the brink. Now, Ven.Thanissaro and his talks, and writings on the teachings of the Buddha are give me the discipline, mental equanimity, and clarity to not let the anguish turn into despair. I'm gonna keep cultivating the anguish called "samvega" by the Buddhists, and hopefully the "pasada" too.

One of my favourite tv characters, "General Iroh" said in the 5th episode of the 2nd season :

Never give into despair. Allow yourself to slip down that road and you surrender to your lowest instincts. In the darkest times hope is something you give yourself. That is the meaning of inner strength.

I think that statement is extremely insightful. I think Pasada has also to do with inner strength, and it can definitely be cultivated.

As a side note, Arsenal are really unhealthy for the heart. Don't they consider the physical and mental well being of their fans even one bit? They HAD to wait till the 95th minute! Sarcasm aside, I'm glad for the win. The players showed a little bit of their own "inner strength".

Have a great weekend. 'tis a bad weekend to have ton of work, what with the sun finally out. Hope nobody else has to work through the weekend.

Happiness is real only when shared

As you may have figured out already, It takes me a while to understand certain things. Like for example, Altruism. That you can only be truly happy when you aren't hurting someone else in the process. Chris McCandless, better known as Alexander Supertramp ( a book and movie of his journey titled "into the wild" for more information ) said Happiness is real only when shared. Now I didn't understand that completely when I saw the movie. I mean I understood the meaning, but I had no idea how to cultivate Altruism in me. The buddha says Altruism begins with realizing that your happiness depends on the happiness of others. I truly feel the buddha is the greatest teacher I've ever had. The mark of a good teacher is the ability to decompose the concept into simpler concepts. That his teachings are helping people even 2500 yrs after his death says something about the Buddha that I cannot express in words.

My room mate has been unable to walk for a few days now. Almost every day, and every night, his friends come over and cook for him, chat with him, and eat dinner with him. Its probably what everyone's friends do, but it begs the question, what is it that stops us from being this nice to everyone, and not just our friends? Why do we dislike people? Now I'm not saying I love everyone under the sun. Far from it. However, I am starting to be mindful of my negative feelings. I wonder why I dislike someone. I wonder why anyone dislikes someone.