Can I dispel the hate in my heart?
In this world
Hate never yet dispelled hate.
Only love dispels hate.
This is the law,
Ancient and inexhaustible,
You too shall pass away.
Knowing this, how can you quarrel?
If you are stunned by the recent bombings in London, and feel angry and powerless in the face of such terror and cruelty. Then you need to do something. We need to dispel Hate. We tend to think that hate and terror exist out there, exist in others. We think: "How can we get them to stop?" My question to you is: how can we expect others to change their minds, to abandon hatred and live in peace when we would not spend any real time and effort to understand our own minds and to abandon hatred in our own hearts?
We want others to change. How easy it is to will it. Yet it is impossible to realise through force. Don't you think this is exactly what's causing the terror? The so-called terrorists are people who want you to change and accept things their way. We are all doing the same thing, "we" are no different from "them". We want the other person to change because it is harder to change ourselves.
If you have sat down to meditate before, you would have realised that it is not an easy task to even just passively watch our minds -- so full of random wandering thoughts, full of clinging passions, full of judgement, full of prejudices. Is it any wonder we live in confusion, we act in carelessness, we speak with thoughtlessness, end up in blows?
We are what we think.
All that we are arises with our thoughts.
With our thoughts we make the world.
If we want to see an end to hatred and terror in our world, we need to dedicate our lives to understanding and mastering our own minds. This is the purpose of Raja Yoga. This is not your personal wellness goal, it is your social responsibility. When we eradicate hatred in our own hearts: we affect ALL those around us. Have you ever been around a person who has cultivated his mind to such an extent that you simply cannot help but feel a sense of peace around him? I have encountered such people and simply meeting them and even just recalling their persons, you feel nothing but goodwill in your hearts and a desire to be a better person when you see that "being a better person" is a real achievable possibility. This, my friends, I feel is THE way we can change the world. When faced with aggression from others, we need only to examine our own minds, to scan our thoughts for the same strain of aggression -- and ask if we ourselves are free from hatred, to ask if we are the cause of terror for others around us. Only when you have freed yourselves entirely of hatred, greed and delusions can you have a real effect on the nature of things in the world now. This is our life's goal, our obligation to the world.
Give up the old ways --
Passion(greed), enmity(hatred), folly(delusion).
Know the truth and find peace.
Share the way.
(all quotes in italics from Dhammapada, based on the sayings of Buddha
as published by Shambhala Publications)
Hate never yet dispelled hate.
Only love dispels hate.
This is the law,
Ancient and inexhaustible,
You too shall pass away.
Knowing this, how can you quarrel?
If you are stunned by the recent bombings in London, and feel angry and powerless in the face of such terror and cruelty. Then you need to do something. We need to dispel Hate. We tend to think that hate and terror exist out there, exist in others. We think: "How can we get them to stop?" My question to you is: how can we expect others to change their minds, to abandon hatred and live in peace when we would not spend any real time and effort to understand our own minds and to abandon hatred in our own hearts?
We want others to change. How easy it is to will it. Yet it is impossible to realise through force. Don't you think this is exactly what's causing the terror? The so-called terrorists are people who want you to change and accept things their way. We are all doing the same thing, "we" are no different from "them". We want the other person to change because it is harder to change ourselves.
If you have sat down to meditate before, you would have realised that it is not an easy task to even just passively watch our minds -- so full of random wandering thoughts, full of clinging passions, full of judgement, full of prejudices. Is it any wonder we live in confusion, we act in carelessness, we speak with thoughtlessness, end up in blows?
We are what we think.
All that we are arises with our thoughts.
With our thoughts we make the world.
If we want to see an end to hatred and terror in our world, we need to dedicate our lives to understanding and mastering our own minds. This is the purpose of Raja Yoga. This is not your personal wellness goal, it is your social responsibility. When we eradicate hatred in our own hearts: we affect ALL those around us. Have you ever been around a person who has cultivated his mind to such an extent that you simply cannot help but feel a sense of peace around him? I have encountered such people and simply meeting them and even just recalling their persons, you feel nothing but goodwill in your hearts and a desire to be a better person when you see that "being a better person" is a real achievable possibility. This, my friends, I feel is THE way we can change the world. When faced with aggression from others, we need only to examine our own minds, to scan our thoughts for the same strain of aggression -- and ask if we ourselves are free from hatred, to ask if we are the cause of terror for others around us. Only when you have freed yourselves entirely of hatred, greed and delusions can you have a real effect on the nature of things in the world now. This is our life's goal, our obligation to the world.
Give up the old ways --
Passion(greed), enmity(hatred), folly(delusion).
Know the truth and find peace.
Share the way.
(all quotes in italics from Dhammapada, based on the sayings of Buddha
as published by Shambhala Publications)
