All quotes from
Kathleen's book
Our
deep-seated me-first attitude needs to be reversed if we are to reach
enlightenment.
These 8
concerns can be condensed into two attitudes: being attached to what is
pleasant, and having aversion or fear toward whatever is unpleasant.
Compassion
arises out of our own experience of suffering.
Giving is one of the
best ways to create good karma.
If we
think, “how wonderful if I could do the same myself”, we mentally steer
ourselves in that direction.
The very root of all our problems is
ignorance, in particular self-grasping ignorance, which believes in a real,
permanent, independently existing self.
Although
things exist, they are empty of the false, mistaken way of existing that our
mind projects onto them. …It means that we see things as if they were
permanent, independent, existing from their own side, in and of themselves….
The phrase “existing from its own side” is often used in discussions of
emptiness…. It is a helpful phrase to put out that we break things down into
subject (our side, this side) and object (its own side, the other side). Then, we imagine that something could exist
“from its own side”, with no relationship to “our side”. If we contemplate matters closely, we will
come to see that the relationship between “this side” and the “other side” is
interdependent.
The root of
suffering is ignorance, seeing ourselves and everyone and everything else in
mistaken ways.
Ignorance
gives rise to other delusions like anger and attachment.
There
are milder forms of anger we are all prone to, such as irritation, impatience,
frustration, criticalness, and aversion.
Every
time a delusion arises, it leaves an important or seed in the mind that will
give rise to another experience of the same delusion.
In Buddhist practice, we neither deny negative emotions nor act them
out.
If
we want to have more peace, kindness, harmony, and happiness in our
relationships, our community, and in the world, we need to start by working out
our own minds.
The
Buddha once said “Buddhas do not wash away negativities with water, they do not
clear away beings suffering with their hands, they do not transfer their own
knowledge to others; they liberate by teaching the truth of reality".
Instead
of thinking: “I am angry”, try thinking: “anger is in my mind”. Remind yourself that it is just an
expression, a mental state that comes and goes in the mind.
I
accept this problem, and by my accepting it, may all those other beings be
relieved of theirs.
Self-grasping
ignorance pervades our view of everything.
