some Buddhist aphorisms/proverbs

[donq]

Today I'd like to share some Buddhist aphorisms/proverbs I like. Anyway, I'll try to talk about it in the broader context, not just Buddhist one.

1. All beings have their own individual minds.

-This is also very important in the therapeutic/psychological sense.

2. Different people have different views.
It is impossible to make them all think alike.

-A great medical hypnotist/psychiatrist once said, "every one is unique". So, how to approach each and individual mind is difference. And tven different approach at the different time to the same person.

3. Through a certain cause one person gets praised. Through that very same cause another gets blamed.
-Hmm...I got that a lot. Still don't know why.

4. The very same thing can be good for one person, but bad for another.
Hence, nothing is either totally good or totally bad.

As for 3. and 4. above, they reminded me of something someone said (cannot recall his name here. sorry). "what is said is less important than who said it".

It's so strange but true, isn't it?

[hera]

Hi donq,

Synchronicity strikes again lol. I have found myself thinking several times over the last few days how, just because I think something or view something in a certain way doesn't mean that others will be seeing through the same lens.

From an astrological point of view, how could they, their energies are fueled by different planetary influences and they will only ever be able to live within their own personal framework.

From an evolutionary standpoint, who knows what they have already experienced, what their life purpose is this time around and what they still need to learn, so we can never expect others to dance to the same tune as we do. It's helped me a lot to be more accepting of the differences between we humans recently.

Thanks for your post it was interesting to read affirmations of the way my thoughts have been developing

If none of the above makes any sense please forgive me, just back from the hospital and am on my knees with exhaustion, but had to reply while this was fresh in my mind.

[gruntal]

One of the most vexing problems in channeling ascended Masters is that They no longer are bound by the physical, which is easy to understand, but they don't even exist except as group minds. Sometimes They use individual names but still say " we " in giving out advice. Like wise it seems suspicious at first if accounts or observations are not consistent. That only makes sense if many different views are actually merged into one offering. We know humans only see or hear certain aspects of things but we forget going beyond that what we can access may be only one voice vocalizing for one purpose.

That is a bit like going to the hospital and seeing the doctor; then being discharged and seeing the home therapist. Not to mention the lawyer if necessary. Or your minister if all seems hopeless. All is still one. But different people have different jobs to do even if they are still all on your side.

[donq]

Hi Hera,

I've never thought about it that way (astrological point of view) before. Very interesting!

A-hem...let me use this opportunity asking you something about astrology. Why I got...urh...divorced twice? I learned it the hard way that I could "never expect others to dance to the same tune as we do", as you put it so well. So, when they asked for divorces, what else I would I od? If it had something to do with astrology, if we were not meant to be together, then, why we got married in the first place?  Did it has something to do with astrology, or people just change?
(Not a tricked question; I do like to know about astrological point of view. And other readers might also get benefits from it). 

What I've learned over the last 35 years from being both a spiritual person (a spiritual seeker, meditator and a monk) and a husband (twice) was that, the more you love, the more you get hurt. Don't get me wrong, I'm not that wound. Or at least, I was completely recovered.  Robert put it great on another thread,

"What effort and love I poured into something which had the potential to cause me great harm."

What I'm trying to say is not only about without (someone/somethings you love) but also within (ourselves). Let me give you an example, my long time spiritual practice has helped me to endure any bad manner other people treated me. Sometimes, I could even honestly laughed at it. But when it came from someone so close to me, like my wife, why I was so fragile? And frankly speaking, with hindsight, it was nothing or so nonsense that I got that mad.
I would love to hear about it from a astrological point of view. I'm all ears. Thanks in advance.

P.S. Another example that come to my mind was about your Mum. I was going to ask if she is okay. But I was afraid it might not right to do so. I might impolite to ask. Though we are spritual friends but we are not that close (yet). Or it might relives something you don't want to hear/think about it. On the contrary, if we were already so close, and I didn't ask you about her, would that make you mad at me? (Believe me, I got that a lot from my personal experience, as being a husband, twice ).  Yes, I might know all about this from psychological and spiritual point of views but would love to know about astrological one. Thanks in advance.



Hi Gruntal,

Thanks for your post. After reading it, I could not help but think of William Blake's poem:

To see a World in a Grain of Sand
And a Heaven in a Wild Flower,
Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand
And Eternity in an hour.

Isn't life kaleidoscopic? It really consists of a lot of very different parts. If only we could see it.

[hera]

Hi Donq,

You said - 'What I'm trying to say is not only about without (someone/somethings you love) but also within (ourselves). Let me give you an example, my long time spiritual practice has helped me to endure any bad manner other people treated me. Sometimes, I could even honestly laughed at it. But when it came from someone so close to me, like my wife, why I was so fragile? And frankly speaking, with hindsight, it was nothing or so nonsense that I got that mad.'


I hope you'll allow me to answer this paragraph without using astrology, rather just my own thoughts, as, would you agree that in our Spiritual Practice, we may enter into it wholeheartedly, use what we feel is our whole being, but are we actually engaging our emotions? We think we are totally imbibing it into our lifestyle and yet are we 'loving' it? How can it hurt us when we are taking and using teachings which, for whatever reason, resonate with us at that time so we follow them, some for life and others until such time as we find they perhaps lack meaning or we need to explore further in a different direction.
Whichever it is, we are not invested emotionally, rather mentally (Imo)
Instead, when we 'fall' in love, what feels like our entire bodies, hearts and minds become connected to another person, something tangible that we can see, hear, smell taste etc, so we are more invested (again, just my opinion) in that relationship.
We can't see our God, only read others interpretations of ways we might become closer to Him/Her and if it fails, our hearts aren't broken as they can be when relationships end.

Regarding the astrology of relationship, gosh that's a question there are no simple answers to. As with all things astrological, there is no 'one size fits all' interpretation.
We look at all the different planets, asteroids of which there are an increasing number being used, and houses to see where and how the people in a relationship are connecting, verbally, intellectually, emotionally, psychologically, sexually, on all different levels, and there is a means of measuring how people may change, possibly grow, by a system called progression, which shows that we are, as you pondered, changing, so the person you marry, or yourself, may have become different in some way in years down the line. The relationship you forged when you married may have been wonderful, seemingly perfect, but life in the form of planetary transits and progressions will always force us to move on if that's what is needed.

Some are fortunate and grow together, others, like myself and you, less so and grow apart.

I hope you don't mind me using myself as an example here, but I have an emotional need (moon in libra) to relate and be in a relationship, and yet my north node and the ruler of the node show that I need to be developing self reliance with a possible leaning towards isolation and spirituality for my evolutionary growth.

Thank you for asking about Mum (don't worry I was pleased you asked not offended lol), she was discharged from hospital yesterday and we have been told they can do no more for her other than offer palliative care. It's a blessing in some ways (I never thought i'd say this) that she has dementia because although her demise was openly discussed in front of her and with her, she has now forgotten and isn't afraid, just happy to have returned home to familiar surroundings
We've been told that the end will be sooner rather than later, but to be honest at the moment it all feels quite unreal, i'm quite numb, but that could be fatigue and perhaps after some sleep catch up things will come into focus.

I'd ask you again to forgive me if anything i've written is baffling or obscure but i'm walking through a haze of sleep deprived confusion at the moment, or that's my excuse anyway haha.

[donq]

[Note-I some readers who might reading this: I know this is not a astrology thread, but recently there are less readers here. So, hope you don't mind to read about astrology here, too. Apology and thanks] 

Hi Hera,

Thanks for you post. I do appreciate it. I'm sorry I forgot you still was exhausted from the hospital.
I had to look up for the word "node" and found this:

Unlike the other aspects of your birth chart, your north node is not a celestial body. Your north and south nodes are the points where the moon's orbit and the plane of the ecliptic converge during the time you were born. Together, they tell the story of your soul's journey through every life you've lived so far.

Okay, I've got an idea of it. But please feel free to add anything, if, and only if you woud like to (and after resting enough). This is a public forum, it will benefit anyone who might read it.
I recall that when I was a young man trying to find a job, some companies asked me what day I was born. I said Thursday. Most of them seemed to be happy. That time I had no idea why the day I born had anything to do with my job. Until later, I learned that Thursday is kind of a good day, right? (or at least, I told myself so. ).

I do like what you said here (a lot):

"in our Spiritual Practice, we may enter into it wholeheartedly, use what we feel is our whole being, but are we actually engaging our emotions? We think we are totally imbibing it into our lifestyle and yet are we 'loving' it? How can it hurt us when we are taking and using teachings which, for whatever reason, resonate with us at that time so we follow them, some for life and others until such time as we find they perhaps lack meaning or we need to explore further in a different direction.
"Whichever it is, we are not invested emotionally, rather mentally (Imo)
Instead, when we 'fall' in love, what feels like our entire bodies, hearts and minds become connected to another person, something tangible that we can see, hear, smell taste etc, so we are more invested (again, just my opinion) in that relationship.
"We can't see our God, only read others interpretations of ways we might become closer to Him/Her and if it fails, our hearts aren't broken as they can be when relationships end."

Frankly speaking, that was sooo good! Are you sure you are not a shrink? :-) I kind of read a lot about psychology/psychiatry. So, I felt like I was reading those books again.

About the word "shrink", there's some informations about it:

"The national obsession with head size and shape also infected daily conversation. Many modern phrases trace their roots to phrenology, including “highbrow” and 'lowbrow', 'well rounded', and 'shrink' (as in 'shrinking' certain undesirable qualities). 'Getting your head examined' also has phrenological roots."

But I like this one more:
"All the early evidence suggests that the person who invented the psychiatrist sense worked in the movies (no jokes please). We have to assume that the term came about because people regarded the process of psychiatry as being like head-shrinking because it reduced the size of the swollen egos so common in show-business. Or perhaps they were suspicious about what psychiatrists actually did to their heads and how they did it and so made a joke to relieve the tension."

What you wrote was really relieved my tension (of wondering about it). Thanks again.

Still, as I also have been a long time (book) editor, I could not help but noticed some little thing. If our spiritual practice come first, it seems there will be no problem in any case. Our hearts will never be broken, whether our relationships would end or not, as everything become our teaching/teachers, to explore further in a different direction.
The point is, as it's said, "You can't eat your cake, and have it too". Somehow I've learned a hard way that there's a fine line between our spiritual practice and our relationships. Bluntly speaking, a monk will never get his heart broken because he never got one (romanantic relationship). Hmm..that might not be true. One of my teacher (relegion) at my university onced told me this story, "One I visited a Mahayana temple. And they introduced me to meet 'an abbot's wife'" I had no idea that any monk could have a wife?


As for astrology, what you said was so interesting:

"there is a means of measuring how people may change, possibly grow, by a system called progression, which shows that we are, as you pondered, changing, so the person you marry, or yourself, may have become different in some way in years down the line."

Wow! I've never thought there's something like that in astrology. Wonderful! Indeed!

P.S. To share you with some information here in return, as you already knew, I had studied I Ching for almost three decades. The heart of I Ching is not about "progression" but "regression". To make to long short here, we have to know the very moment before any change will happen. And when it (the change) has happened, we will not look at its progression (where/what it will lead to) but what else that has happened along with it. Kind of we cannot grow a forest but a tree.

P.P.S. As usual, sorry for any error and typo.

[donq]

I'd ike to talk a bit more about "regression" in I Ching which is related to Buddhism (expecially mindfulness).

There's a Zen story:

Two monks were arguing while watching a flag flapping in the wind.
"The flag is moving," argued one monk.
"No, it's the wind that is moving!" insisted the other monk.
Huineng (a Zen master) was passing by, and remarked, "It's your minds that are moving."

As a long time mindfulness practicer, once one of my spritual teachers (the venerable forest monk) gave me this important mindfulness key:
"A bird swooped down to perch on a tree, then, it has flew away. What would you watch?"

Another example, when you dropped your glass and broke it, what will you look? Normally we look at the broken glass, right? Then, our mind will wander far and away. Here mindfulness comes to play. To bring us back to here and now.

The other thing is, what happened at the very moment "before" we dropped that glass? If only we could "see" that very important moment, it's like we could see a snowball that's going to become avalanche/snowslide later. Here I ching comes to play. Whatever has happened, we will not look where it will leads to (to what ends) but looking at what else it has happened along with it instead. Hence, we are looking at any coincidence/synchrocinity.

As long as we look at something that is putting (happening) in front of us, and try to stop it (including within or our own thought/thinking which is the goal of mindfulness), we still didn't get the real mindfulness. But when we even don't try to watch nor stop it, then there's no object to to grasped (both without and within). And when there's nothing to grasp, there's no grasping. When there's nothing to watch, there's no (ego of the) watcher. Wow! that sounded very out of the world, din't it?

Oops, that was my yapping. It was just I felt a bit guilty and trying to talk about something that would fit on this Buddhism thread.