posted March 05, 2004 09:25 AM         

Instructions for Life in the new millennium from the Dalai Lama:

1. Take into account that great love and great achievements involve great risk.

2. When you lose, don't lose the lesson.

3. Follow the three Rs: Respect for self, respect for others and responsibility for all your actions.

4. Remember that not getting what you want is sometimes a wonderful stroke of luck.

5. Learn the rules so you know how to break them properly.

6. Don't let a little dispute injure a great friendship.

7. When you realize you've made a mistake, take immediate steps to correct it.

8. Spend some time alone every day.

9. Open your arms to change, but don't let go of your values.

10. Remember that silence is sometimes the best answer.

11. Live a good, honorable life. Then when you get older and think back, you'll be able to enjoy it a second time.

12. A loving atmosphere in your home is the foundation for your life.

13. In disagreements with loved ones, deal only with the current situation. Don't bring up the past.

14. Share your knowledge. It's a way to achieve immortality.

15. Be gentle with the earth.

16. Once a year, go some place you've never been before.

17. Remember that the best relationship is one in which your love for each other exceeds your need for each other.

18. Judge your success by what you had to give up in order to get it.

19. Approach love and cooking with reckless abandon.

juniperb

posted March 05, 2004 11:28 AM         

I have a couple of books by and about the Dalai Lama.

Every time I see his picture it makes me smile, he is truly and enlightened and inspiring Soul.

If we could all follow his example the world would be a better place. Hrmm, same if we all followed the example of the Nazarene, Gandhi, Buddha and the whole host of others God sent to get our attention but my small brain can't quite dredge up at the moment.

I bid you Peace...
A

posted March 06, 2004 10:09 AM         

juniperb

posted April 29, 2004 07:04 PM         

It's hard for me to fathom as a mother that my child would be taken from me at such a young age to begin training as the Lama.

And the endless lines of people that he had to meet everyday. He is a true example of endurance and love. And his smile does radiate. The book had photos of him as a child and he wore a pair of glasses that him look like an old man at 12. Cute as a button.

posted May 01, 2004 12:46 AM         

And yes, I thought of you in Feb, I know you're Aqua and I figured it would be your birhtday sometime then, sorry I couldn't get on to wish you, but HAPPY BIRTHDAY anyway!

posted May 01, 2004 08:40 AM         

I have so missed your loving energy too. You were on my mind all winter.

It is the Perfect May Day hearing from you and my soul feels lighter picking up your vibration I love you too!!!

juniperb

posted April 04, 2007 08:44 PM         

At the age of 17 he was sitting peacefully in his room when suddenly he was overwhelmed by the terrifying experience of his own death. He then 'contemplated' the divine source of his being, the immortal "I" as opposed to the temporary and changeable 'Me'...
From that moment onwards, the "I" or Self focussed attention on itself by a powerful fascination. Fear of death vanished once and for all. The ego was lost in the flood of Self awareness...
Ramana Maharishi did not realize that this spontaneous revelation conformed exactly to the teachings of Hindu mystical philosophy until many years later. Shortly after this experience in 1896, an inner voice compelled him to give up everything and to withdraw to a cave on the side of Mount Arunachala, a sacred mountain near Tiruvannamalai to the west of Pondicherry. But soon pilgrims were attracted to this ascetic who was almost permanently transfigured by a state of ecstasy, whom they called Maharishi (Great Soul). Two ashrams had to be built to house the pilgrims who flocked to the mountain, not only from all over India, but also from the many Western countries to which his reputation for saintliness had spread...
The Maharishi is distinguished from other great contemporary Hindu leaders in that he belonged to no particular sect, nor did he have a spiritual adviser. However, he is representative of the pure advaita vedanta tradition. Living in solitude, he never sought to teach. To those who came looking for him and to question him, he invariably asked in return: 'Who are you?' thereby encouraging them to discover their true nature, the "I" identical to 'Self and to atma, which is pure reality, and to the universal principal within every human being which constitutes that pure reality.

Parable from Ramana Maharishi:

Ten foolish men forded a stream and on reaching the other shore wanted to make sure that all of them had in fact safely crossed the stream. One of the ten began to count, but while counting others left himself out. "I see only nine; we have lost one. Who can it be ?" he said. "Did you count correctly?" asked another, and did the counting himself. But he too counted only nine. One after the other, each each of the ten counted only nine, missing himself. "We are only nine, they all agreed, "but who is the missing one?" they asked themselves. Every effort they made to discover the 'missing' individual failed. "Whoever he is that is drowned," said the most sentimental of ten fools, "we have lost him."

So saying, he burst into tears, and the rest of the nine followed suit. Seeing them, weeping on the river bank , a sympathetic wayfarer inquired for the cause. They related what had happened and said that even after counting themselves several times they could find no more than nine. On hearing the story, but seeing all the ten before him, the wayfarer guessed what had happened. In order to make them know for themselves that they were really ten, that all of them had come safe from the crossing, he told them, " Let each of you count for himself but one after the other serially, one, two three and so on, while I shall give you each a blow so that all of you may be sure of having been included in the count, and included only once. The tenth 'missing' man will then be found." Hearing this, they rejoiced at the prospect of finding their "lost" comrade and accepted the method suggested by the wayfarer. While the wayfarer gave a blow to each of the ten in turn, he that got the blow counted himself aloud. " Ten", said the last man as he got the last blow in his turn. Bewildered, they looked at one another. We are ten, " they said with one voice and thanked the wayfarer for having removed their grief.

That is the parable. From where was the tenth man brought in? Was he ever lost? By knowing that he had been there all the while, did they learn anything new? The cause of their grief was not the real loss of any one of the ten; it was their own ignorance, rather their mere supposition that one of them was lost( though they could not find who he was) because they counted only nine.

Such is the case with you. Truly there is no cause for you to be miserable and unhappy. You yourself impose limitations on your true nature of infinite Being and then weep that you are but a finite creature. Then you take up this or that sadhana to transcend the nonexistent limitations. But if your sadhana itself assumes the existence of the limitations, how can it help you to transcend them?

Hence I say know that you are really the infinite, pure Being, the Self Absolute. You are always that Self and nothing but that Self. Therefore, you can never be really ignorant of the Self; your ignorance is merely a formal ignorance, like the ignorance of the ten fools about the "lost" tenth man. It is this ignorance that caused them grief.