Do you like delusions or truth? Many people keep a false front; projecting success and joy. Other people look on, believing this is reality, feeling envy. Culture and media supplies people with images of what success is, like a BMW. Then people delude themselves enough to repeat it parrot style. Real is simple and natural, but it is difficult, because you have work against the influence of media and culture. Especially when everybody is inebriated only you stay sober.
Recently I read a News article called “Millionaire Gives Away Fortune Which Made Him Miserable” The article says: Austrian millionaire Karl Rabeder is giving away every penny of his £3 million fortune after realizing his riches were making him unhappy.
Mr Rabeder, 47, a businessman from Telfs is in the process of selling his luxury 3,455 sq ft villa with lake, sauna and spectacular mountain views over the Alps, valued at £1.4 million.
Also for sale is his beautiful old stone farmhouse in Provence with its 17 hectares overlooking the arrière-pays, on the market for £613,000. Already gone is his collection of six gliders valued at £350,000, and a luxury Audi A8, worth around £44,000. His entire proceeds are going to charities he set up in Central and Latin America, but he will not even take a salary from these.
“For a long time I believed that more wealth and luxury automatically meant more happiness,” he said. “I come from a very poor family where the rules were to work more to achieve more material things, and I applied this for many years,” said Mr Rabeder.
But over time, he had another, conflicting feeling.
“More and more I heard the words: ‘Stop what you are doing now – all this luxury and consumerism – and start your real life’,” he said. “I had the feeling I was working as a slave for things that I did not wish for or need.
I have the feeling that there are lot of people doing the same thing.”
However, for many years he said he was simply not “brave” enough to give up all the trappings of his comfortable existence.
The tipping point came while he was on a three-week holiday with his wife to islands of Hawaii.
“It was the biggest shock in my life, when I realised how horrible, soulless and without feeling the five star lifestyle is,” he said. “In those three weeks, we spent all the money you could possibly spend. But in all that time, we had the feeling we hadn’t met a single real person – that we were all just actors. The staff played the role of being friendly and the guests played the role of being important and nobody was real.”
Since selling his belongings, Mr Rabeder said he felt “free, the opposite of heavy”.
But he said he did not judge those who chose to keep their wealth. “I do not have the right to give any other person advice. I was just listening to the voice of my heart and soul.”
“http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/austria/7190750/Millionaire-gives-away-fortune-which-made-him-miserable.html”
THe Chinese Taoist philosopher named Zhuangzi (Chuang-Tzu), in his book Nanhua zhenjing Chapter 18: Perfect Enjoyment tell us like this: “Is there a way to be perfectly happy in this world or not? Is there a way to live longer or not? If there is, what can you do and what can you depend on to accomplish those things? What should you avoid and what should you accept? What should you move towards and what should you stay away from? What should you enjoy and what should you hate?
The things admired in this world are having wealth, being moral, living a long life and being famous. What brings enjoyment are having a comfortable place to live, eating flavorful foods, wearing beautiful clothes, looking at pretty colors, and hearing delightful music. What’s looked down on are being poor, being vulgar, dying young, and those who are filled with hate. What’s disliked are not being physically healthy, not having flavorful food to stimulate the taste buds, not having fancy clothes to wear, not being able to see bright colors, and not being able to listen to delightful music. If someone doesn’t acquire those things, they become depressed and anxiety-ridden. Those are stupid ways to treat the body!
The wealthy cause suffering to their bodies and make themselves sick because they try to accumulate more and more riches, but they never seem to get enough. That’s treating the body as being superficial.
People who want to be moral spend all their time day and night wondering if others see them as being kind or not. That’s being negligent towards the body.
If a person spends their whole life worrying about when they’re going to die, then their lives would simply revolve around worrying and they’d just be extending their misery. That’s taking yourself even farther away from your body.
People of high morals could be lined up so the rest of the world could observe how good they were, but that wouldn’t be enough to keep them alive. Can we really determine whether what we think is good is really goodness or really not goodness? Even if we decide that someone is good, that’s still not enough to keep them alive. If we decide that someone isn’t good, that might be enough to keep other people alive.
Therefore it’s been said:
“Faithfully listen to admonishments. Squat down and obey. DO NOT disagree.”
When Zi Xu (an adviser to the kings of the state of Wu who was forced to commit suicide) disagreed he suffered great injury to his body. If he hadn’t disagreed, then he wouldn’t have ended up becoming so famous. Can anything really be considered to be good or not?
As for when ordinary people express happiness, can we really determine if their happiness is coming naturally from within them or if it’s a release from unhappiness? When I observe the common people having fun, they socialize with each other in groups, rushing on and chattering incessantly as though that’s the only thing they can do. Even though they all say they’re happy, I’m not sure if they’re happy, but I’m also not sure if they’re unhappy. Maybe they’re just appearing to be happy, but they’re really not? Personally, I find more happiness in not being involved in all that activity, yet ordinary people would find what I do to be very uncomfortable.
Therefore it’s been said:
“In perfect happiness the sense of happiness vanishes. In perfect honorability the sense of honor vanishes.”
In this world, no one can know what results might occur from acting in ways that are considered to be either right or wrong. Even so, if no actions are taken, right and wrong become settled of themselves. To be perfectly happy throughout your entire life – only by taking no actions would it keep multiplying and accumulating. Please try to get the gist of these words. Without taking any actions the heavens are clear, and without taking any actions the earth is stable. Since neither of them do anything, they conform to each other and all living things transform naturally. What wasn’t there before is suddenly there, and there’s no sense where it came from! What is there suddenly vanishes, and it doesn’t even leave an image behind! All living things become involved in all sorts of things, and they go along with what happens and keep developing without even being aware they’re doing it.
Therefore it’s been said:
“Heaven and earth don’t do anything, yet nothing is left undone.”
Among people, who would be able to achieve this type of nonaction?
( Translation by Nina Correa) “http://www.daoisopen.com/ZZ18.html”
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When we speak of ignorance I think the biggest issue is people’s fear of being seen as ignorant.
In English ignorant is defined as “1. lacking in knowledge or training; unlearned. 2. lacking knowledge of information as to a particular subject or fact. 3. uninformed. 4. due to or showing a lack of knowledge or training.” (dictionary.com).
Unfortunately colloquial English often defines ignorant as follows: (adj) :not polite; unkind; rude esp. because of a lack of moral behavior.” From “The Dictionary of Informal, Slang and Idiomatic Phrases in Spoken English.” This last definition is a discussion for another time.
The great philosopher Socrates often said his wisdom was limited to an awareness of his own ignorance. Socrates believed wrongdoing was a result of ignorance and those who did wrong knew no better. He is noted for saying; “I am the wisest man alive, for I know one thing, and that is that I know nothing” and “I know nothing except the fact of my ignorance.”
In China the Taoist philosopher, Lao-Zi (Laotse), author of the Daodejing(Tao Te Ching), is known to have a similar saying: ”The wise one does not know many things; He who knows many things is not wise.”
So if a person knows himself to be ignorant it is not shameful. Lao-Zi also told us that “He who knows others is learned; He who know himself is wise.”
The opposite of ignorant is knowledgeable. In Buddhism you can find a concept called the “Knowledge Barrier.” This refers to the times when knowledge becomes a stumbling block towards reaching enlightenment. One famous example uses the moon and a finger pointing at the moon as a metaphorical explanation.
Let’s make the moon the state of Enlightenment. All of the Sutras/sacred writings can be likened as a finger. The finger is used to point you towards the moon, showing you the way. A seeker who focuses all his/her attention on the finger doesn’t reach the moon.
Similarly, after many years of martial arts training, I have realized that in Chinese martial arts (Wu Shu) learning forms and learning striking skills (San Da) are not the same. Every school practices their own special kind of style, like T’ai Chi Chu’an, Xing Yi, Ba Gua or Shao Lin. However, even when you can perform a form very well, it doesn’t mean you can use those skills in a real fight. If you want to be good in a real fight, then you have to practice free style sparring very often. For instance, there are a lot of Wu Shu forms made just for performances; we call it “Showy Boxing”. When you see people doing a form on TV, and it looks nice, then it can’t be used in a real fight.
Consider the skills of a person who has read a lot of martial arts books and can do many different kinds martial arts forms but has never practice free style sparring. If he chooses to compete at an Ultimate Fighter event, he will still lose the fight. All martial arts forms are just one way to help us develope our “muscle memory” and release our body and mind. The form’s intent is to keep you relaxed when you face a real fight, so you can be “natural.”
This is why I like the part in the movie “Kung Fu Panda” where the panda opens the Dragon Scroll to find it is blank. “The Tao(Dao) that can be told of is not the absolute Tao(Dao); The Names that can be given are not absolute Names.”
Buddha told us:”… people should remember the unreality of …concepts and ideas. They should recall that in teaching spiritual truths the Buddha always uses…concepts and ideas in the way that a raft is used to cross a river. Once the river has been crossed over, the raft is of no more use, and should be discarded… arbitrary concepts and ideas about spiritual things need to be explained to us as we seek to attain Enlightenment. However, ultimately these arbitrary conceptions can be discarded. …[ To attain Enlightenment] isn’t it even more obvious that we should also give up our conceptions of non-existent things?” For a more complete explanation please go to http://www.diamond-sutra.com/diamond_sutra_text/page6.html
What has the most knowledge? “The Internet”(Divine Google) is our most common response. When we “Google” the Internet we usually get many, many answers. But it doesn’t automatically solve the problems in our life. Why is that?
There are many different answers to life’s questions. People choose, based on ignorance or knowledge. Sometimes the best answers comes from honestly confronting our own ignorance or leave our mind empty. Then we find the path pointing to the answers we need.
Tags: Daodejing(Tao Te Ching), diamond-sutra, Kung Fu Panda, Lao-Zi (Laotse), Socrates
In this fast food age, many people have no patience with process; they only care about the end result. Sometimes people come ask me, ”How long does it take for me to finish the T’ai Chi form?” or, ”How long will it take for me to get flexible?” If I reply that it will take them 2 or 3 years to learn and understand the T’ai Chi form, or to get the degree of flexibility they desire, then they give up and no longer practice.
There is a Chinese maxim that sounds like this; “yà miáo zhù zh?ng”. It means “Trying to help the seedlings grow faster by pulling them upwards.”
This proverb comes from Confucius’ disciple Mencius(Mengzi). He explained it using this story:
“Once there was a farmer in Sung. He patrolled his farm every day and began to suspect that the sprouts at his farm are growing too slow. One day a thought arose in his mind, ”Why don’t I go and pull these rice seedlings upward? They will look taller and maybe it can also help them grow faster.” He thought it was a great idea, and did just that. At the end of day he was very tired, for it was a big job, but also very pleased. He went home to tell his family. The next day his son wanted to see how wonderfully tall the rice seedling were growing, but found they had withered entirely away.”
This story make me recall how, thirty years ago, the military in Taiwan trained soldiers to become more flexible. When a soldier was too stiff to touch his toes, they would get another person to stand behind his back and push down very hard on his body, until he reached his toes. You can just imagine what this traditional method generated.
Here in Canada I have come across a couple of similar axioms; “Haste makes waste” and “More haste, less speed.”
In my personal practice of Martial Arts I find myself enjoying the process. I am much less concerned over the end result. As a result it has become a part of my life, almost an unconscious habit, over the last twenty-five years.
Tags: Haste makes waste, less speed, Mencius(Mengzi), More haste, Process And Result
Recently, Yoga and meditation have become very popular in the West. Many people take meditation courses or practice it at home. Most people know that breathing is very important in meditation. Many are taught to breathe down into their lower abdomen, or Dan-Tian. This kind of practice helps to massage the internal organs, but it is not the ideal breathing for meditation. “Xi” is. “Xi” (pronounced ’she’) in the Chinese language means “still” or “rest”.
According to China’s Tian-Tai School of Zen, in the book “Shiao Jr Guan”, there are four kinds of breathing or Xi, in meditation:
Normal in-and-out breathing is the first kind. It is called Wind. What represents Wind? It is when you are meditation, breathing through your nose, and you can hear your breath sounds. This is Wind.
The second is Gasping; short and rapid in-and-out breathing. What is the common representation of Gasping? It is when your breathing is quiet but you only move stagnant air with each in and out.
The third is Chi(Qi); long and deep in-and-out breathing. What represents third state of breathing? While sitting in meditation the breathing is quiet and not stagnant but each breath is not slender. This is Chi(Qi) breathing.
The fourth kind of breathing is Xi. What represents Xi? Quiet, not stagnant and also not thick or shallow breathing. Breathing is continuous with each ‘in’ smoothly connecting to each ‘out’ which then flows into the next ‘in’, as if in contact. But you are not connected to the breathing, so it is like absorbing air rather than moving it. This is Xi.
From first to third, breathing is not harmonized. Xi is harmonized. Doing sitting meditation while using the first state of breathing causes your mind to easily become disordered. In the second state, you are stagnant, unable to progress. Staying in third state of breathing labours your body and mind. It is the fourth kind of breathing that will settle your mind, bringing you into Samadhi (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sam%C4%81dhi_%28Buddhism%29).
How can we keep our breathing in the fourth state while we are in meditation? There are three ways to make the adjustment:
The first is to focus your in-breath into your lower abdomen or Dan-Tian while doing meditation.
The second is to relax your whole body but keep your spine straight.
The third way is to use visualization. While breathing through your nose, visualize your breath as also moving through your skin pores. Then your breaths will be tiny and calm.
It should then be possible to maintain Xi breathing. Buddha taught us this awareness. To be aware of Xi is to be aware of the interval between two breaths during which one neither inhales nor exhales. In the beginning, the interval, or the Xi, is brief. With correct practice, the duration will gradually extend and the mind will settle down as well. When the mind moves in tandem with Xi, you will feel Xi breathing all over your body.
Below is a research article link about meditation:
“More than just relaxing, meditation helps improve self-image of anxiety sufferers http://news.stanford.edu/news/2009/june3/meditate-060309.html”
Tags: anxiety suffer, Breathing Exercise, Buddhist Meditation, research about meditation
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