Rantings on Enthusiastically Perseverance

Enthusiastic Perseverance/Joyful Effort

Once again I take my info from The Six Perfections Part one of Bodhicitta.com. 

Firstly, what does perseverance mean? I looked it up because I wanted to clarify my definition. Even though English is my native language, I have learned that sometimes a meaning of a certain word is not  precisely as I imagined it to be.

According to my online dictionary, perseverance is "steadfastness in doing something despite difficulty or delay in achieving success." It's also, in theological terms, a "continuance in a state of grace leading finally to a state of glory." This is very interesting to me.

Judith Ragir emphasizes "steadfastness" in some of her lectures.  When I first listened to every one of her lectures, I didn't realize it had to do with one of the Six Perfections.

The meaning of enthusiastic perseverance and joyful effort, according to the article The Six Perfections Part 1, is to be "pleased to perform virtuous actions."

Why would I gladly perform any actions regularly? Because, as the teaching states,  if we have great perseverance and do not get upset, there is nothing we cannot achieve. And, it will bring us to enlightenment.

The more I read about persistence, the words that jump out at me are "understanding hardships" and "obstacles as opportunities for enlightenment." In either one of Dalai Lama's readings or Judith Ragir's lectures, I learned not to hate hardships but to love them, to look at them as the reasons we're are on the path that we are on. 

I can understand this now. I recently became in contact with an old friend. Back in our youth I wanted very much to be his girlfriend. Although we only remained friends, I often wondered what life would have been like if I had been with him instead of my current husband. Would I have been happier? Perhaps because I wouldn't have been bombarded with negativity. That idea could be a fantasy.

What would my spiritual path look like since he's not religious or heavily spiritual?  Not sure. Then I thought of all the things I love which I received through my husband. I would have missed out on the music, Bollywood movies, living in a foreign country and most importantly, my two daughters. 

I also love the path I'm on spiritually. Therefore, even with all the depression I suffered for so long, I see those terrible days as the means to get me where I am today.  Without those challenges/opportunities, I wouldn't have looked for solutions to my depression.  No drugs, no psychiatric treatment, just lots of faith and good friends who guided me.

Would I have been on the same path with the other man?  I don't know.  His personality is completely opposite from my husband.  I will never know what I missed out not being with him. But my current opportunities for spiritual growth in my past, present and future are enormous. So in this moment, I'm happy to have this chance for growth. Even though there is still some problems,  I see them as growing pains which will pass if I put my effort into my spiritual growth. 

A friend of mine recently told me, "In one year from now, things will be different." I don't know if they will be good or bad. But with joyful perseverance and steadfastness, the challenges that are occurring in my life can be overcome.

My serenity is directly proportional to my level of acceptance.

Those who really seek the path to enlightenment dictate terms to their mind. They then proceed with strong determination.--The  Buddha

Teachings of the Dalai Lama

As luck would have it, the lesson I got today from Practicing Spirituality with His Holiness the Dalai Lama is about being patient. He wrote that "there are four  qualities of patience and tolerance" to practice daily.  These come from his book "How to Practice."

• If someone pushes you around, you should be tolerant, patient.
• If someone shows anger to you, you should not respond with anger.
• If someone hits you, you should not strike back.
• If someone embarrasses and insults you, you should not answer back.

In a nutshell: "Develop a strong desire to refrain from harming others either physically or verbally no matter whether you are embarrassed, insulted, reviled, pushed, or hit."

These are not easy for me.  It's a habit for me to often respond with anger when I'm yelled at. I'm working hard not to take things personally when someone pushes me around, embarrasses or insults me.  When these things happen I try to think that the problem is within them; the anger is inside them; they are really feeling subconsciously an issue from their past; or a need isn't being met.  Then I look at my actions to see what I did to trigger that anger or the reason for the insult.

I also think the slogan "Take time to think the thing through" when someone is upset with me also applies.  It gives me the opportunity to examine what is going on, what they are really anger at, what need of theirs isn't getting met, what need of mine isn't getting met, and how best to handle it.

The practice of not responding as suggested by the four qualities listed above are wonderful.  I do think that we also benefit by reexamining our thoughts and perceptions and working to change those, too.

I decided to write the four qualities down and put them where I can easily read them regularly.  Hopefully that will help me along with the other inside work I'm currently doing regarding the six perfections.


"True change is within; leave the outside as it is."

Practicing Patience

I was taught that one way to practice patience is to empathize. If we empathize with the person who wronged us, we can look at them through their eyes with compassion.

Another way to practice is to realize that when we have problems with "enemies or non-living things," most likely it is our karma from past lives that is creating these problems. Therefore, we can look at the problem as karma, accept it and move on. Another way to to practice the patience is thinking about the dharma: understanding the meanings and looking at the teachings deeply through meditation.

Part 2 of the Six Perfections claim that there are three types of patience:

1. Patience when we are harmed by others -- not reacting with anger to those who have harmed us.

2. Patience when we are suffering -- thinking of our suffering coming from our past negative actions or retains. Therefore it's best to accept them and not create more negative karma. Retaliation only creates more suffering for ourselves by way of new bad karma.

3. Patience of keeping concentration -- that is, to continue meditating and concentrating on the dharma without allowing yourself to become distracted.


We are in charge of our attitudes.

Dry Fasting

Have you heard of dry fasting?  I never did either until about 6 years ago. A person on the Raw Food Support forum was practicing it daily until about 12 noon.  I thought he was crazy to do that.  I couldn't imagine not eating breakfast.

Later I heard the term "delaying meals" until around 11:00 AM or 12:00 noon was a great way to cleanse the system.  You could do this daily with no ill effects.  The morning, I was told, was when our body did a lot of cleansing.    

A few years went by and the book Quantum Eating by Tonya Zavasta came out and once again, the idea of dry fasting came up. This time, as Tonya suggests, you stop eating in the early afternoon and break your fast in the morning, say around 6:00 AM or so.  I never read the book, but have heard some really positive remarks regarding it.  It's on my list of books to get once I'm back in the States.

So, a couple of years ago, I decided to delay my first meal each morning until noon or there a bouts for 90 days.  What I noticed was that my tongue changed from having a white coating to being red.  I considered it a great success;  there was no more weird taste in my mouth, I could taste food better and I didn't need to use as many spices for flavoring my meals. 

Right now, I decided to go another month of morning dry fasting.  Although many raw food gurus suggest to stop eating meals around 6:00, I tend to eat later.  My last meal ends around 9:00. Therefore, I'm usually fine by 12:00 noon. I've been delaying my first meal each morning for a week now and notice my latest canker sore is going away quicker and never got as bad as some of the others. I've been getting canker sores regularly for about a month.

So why am I getting canker sores?  I believe it could be another means of detox.  I haven't had them in years and I find it interesting that even though my diet hasn't changed in the last 5 years, they are appearing with a vengence.  I don't believe in the idea that they come from lack of nutrition.  It's just another method of detox.

So, hopefully, the new dry fast will help relieve me of them once and for all. Only time will tell.

You can't speed up your recovery, but you sure can slow it down.
Situations I fear are rarely as bad as the fear itself.

Cliff notes from Sylvia Boorstien's book "It's easier than you think"

 

I made these cliff notes a couple of years ago as part of my morning reflections and meditation. I highly recommend reading her book in order to get an even deeper meaning of living.

The Four Noble Truths

1. Pain is inevitable. Suffering is optional.
2. The cause of suffering is craving. Craving anything is suffering.
3. Liberation is possible. The end of suffering is possible.
4. Freedom from suffering is through the Eightfold Circle

The Eightfold Circle

1. Right Understanding
2. Right Aspiration
3. Right Action
4. Right Speech
5. Right Livelihood
6. Right Effort
7. Right Concentration
8. Right Mindfulness

1. Right Understanding
~Means believing, even a little bit, that even though life is inevitably disappointing it is still possible to be happy.
~What ever we are feeling and experiencing at the moment is impermanent. That doesn't diminish the experience, it enhances it.
~All things are transient

2. Right Aspiration
~ Choice is possible i.e. happiness or sadness
~Daily action:
    Behave in a way that stretches the limits of conditioned responses.
    Every situation is an opportunity to practice.
~Buddhists call this cultivation of non-hatred, non-greed and non-delusion.
~Everything is transitory so why not aspire to joy?

3. Right Action
~Every single act we do has the potential of causing pain, and every single thing we do has consequences that echo way beyond what we can imagine.
~Act carefully
~Everything matters.

4. Right Speech
~People can make suggestions and observations in a way the other person can hear and use them without feeling diminished. (e.i. NVC)
~Intention: Why am I saying this?
~Pause before speaking,
~60 second pause.
~Think think think.
~The Seven T's -- Take Time To Think The Thing Through.

5. Right Livelihood
~Organizing one's financial support so that it's non-abusive, non-exploitive, and non-harming.

6. Right Effort
~Practice wholesome feelings (friendliness, compassion, generosity, empathy, etc.) and encourage them to grow.
~Notice unwholesome feelings and discourage them.
~We have a choice about our mind states.
~Every mind moment conditions the next.
~Discourage or replace unwholesomeness with wholesomeness

7. Right Concentration
~The ability to let the attention become absorbed in one single thing.
~A sense of ease, balance, and relaxation.
~Concentration practice strengthens and softens the mind.

8. Right Mindfulness
~The aware balanced acceptance of present experience.
~Practice each minute to remain calm and alert throughout the whole range of body and mind states that present themselves--all the while not doing anything to change the experience but rather discovering that experience is bearable.



Develop a mind that clings to nothing. -- Diamond Sutra

It is not a matter of can or cannot; it's a mater of will or will not. Everything is a choice. Choose wisely.

Prayer for loved ones

Here's a prayer for all our loved ones.

 

Thank you for the many blessings

Heavenly Creator,
Thank  you for the many blessings you have so graciously given me, my family, my friends, and all my loved ones.
May we all be filled with peace and happiness with the intention of goodwill and compassion for all beings.
May we all live with ease, kindness, tenderness, wisdom, and mercy.
May we all be healed, both physically and emotionally.
May we all enjoy our successes, and rejoice in the successes of others.
May we all know forgiveness, both in forgiving others as well as being forgiven.
May our words and actions be thoughtful, empathetic, helpful to all,
and compassionate toward each other.
May we listen and speak only from the heart without guilt or blame.
May we be giving and generous, for we have been blessed.
May we all be willing to accept your will and not ours while being open to seeing that your will is best for us.

Lord, as I humbly ask for these many blessings for myself and my all my loved ones,
please help keep me humble, guiding me throughout the day to always do your will, not mine.
Through Jesus Christ our Lord,
Amen.
--Mona Dresbach

Patience is accepting God's timing in life.

Patience is the ability to allow things to work.


Painting by

By Kelem133

Litany of Patience

Since I'm working on patience, I found the Episcopal Litany of Patience.

Here's a small sample:

FROM HOLY WRIT ....

Rest in the LORD, and wait patiently for him
Ps. 37:7

I waited patiently for the LORD; and he inclined unto me, and heard my cry. Psalm 40:1

Better is the end of a thing than the beginning thereof: and the patient in spirit is better than the proud in spirit.
Ecclesiastes 7:8

Lot's of opportunities have come up to practice patience every day.  This is a good reminder for me to practice every moment.

Rabbi Simon Jacobson

 One of the other things I listen to is a series of Jewish teachings.  I figure Jesus was Jewish, so I would like to learn more about his faith. I go to Passover with friends yearly, and respect their traditions. 

I listened to Rabbi Jacobson in an interview a couple of weeks ago and now receive his newsletter.  This week, he wrote a very good article on when things go badly. He discusses Jacob's story about how he was almost killed by his brothers who sold him into slavery.  Rabbi Jacobson's outlook is wonderful and helps to put these times into perspective.

He started with a series of questions:

Do you think you know where your life is headed?

Do you feel that your losses and disappointments in life give you good reason to be resigned?

Do you feel that the hurt in your life has dampened (or killed) your trust and hope in a brighter future?

Do you feel your childhood scars have left you for damaged goods?

Does fear and insecurity drive many of your decisions?

Do you feel that you will never find true love in your life?

I encourage you to read the article.  It can help change your perspective if you answered yes to several of these questions.

Practicing Spirituality with the Dalai Lama continues

At the end of each lesson on "Practicing Spirituality with the Dalai Lama," there's a suggested activity. Usually something to journal, but occasionally something you actually do.  I haven't been doing this very well, so I thought I would start.

Let's see, I'm almost half way through the lessons, so I'll combine a couple of them. However, I encourage you to take the class yourself to get the full benefits; it's really worth taking.

One lesson is about seeing everyone as your mother. If I look at all people I meet, I can imagine that they were once my mother, father, brother, and sister at one time or another.  I can look at them with love. Right now, a man is painting the outside of a house across the street from me. He's listening to loud Panamanian tipico music which I understand the appeal, but it's not really to my liking.  I can look at him in kindness anyway because he could have been a loving family member in the past. 

I am trying to get this. But sometimes it's a bit hard for me.  Because my tradition does not believe in reincarnation, this is something that I really don't know much about.  Part of me thinks it makes lots of since. Also, I don't know if I've been reincarnated 1000's of times as Buddhists claim; I'm just taking it on faith that it's true.  So I can imagine that each person has been a part of my life one way or another in other reincarnations, but not my parent.  I can understand how a person who is my friend today could have been my enemy in another life and visa versa.  Well, that's why I'm still searching. I don't have the answers.  

The lesson I received recently seems to touch on a subject I hold dear: that is, making a scheduled commitment and sticking to it.  I know sometimes I plan on meeting someone and I forget because life gets crazy. Then there's people who I want to schedule time with and they continue to put me off by telling me "we'll get together. Don't you worry about it. I'll let you know." These are the one's I know I will not get together with.  They will always be too busy, something will always come up. 

The other issue is, most of the people I want to get together with are elderly and could cross over any time.  I know too many people who have died over the last several years.  You never know when your time comes.  It's best to just do it than to be sorry you didn't get your chance because the person is now gone. Or maybe you're the one who is gone.

So, unless you make specific time for something that you feel committed to, you will always have other obligations.--The Dalai Lama

Picture above is called  Reincarnation, Art Print by John K. Nakata

Patience, the third Perfection

There are times when I don't have patience at all. There are times when I have lots of patience. It depends on the situation and how it will affect others.

Everyone in Panama is late for everything. You would think after 12 years of living here, I would be used to that. But no. I still have in my Stateside trained head that it's rude to be late and that it is best to start events and meetings on time. This is not the Panamanian way.  Very few events start on time. Very few people show up early so the event can start on time. Most people wander in whenever they happen to arrive.

Patience will be a challenge for me to practice. "Patience means having a tranquil mind with the antagonist, and compassion for him."  Can I be compassionate to those who are continually late and who are not bothered by it? I can understand the cultural differences and how unpredictable the traffic can be at times.

According the the article "The Six Perfections Part 1" patience is learning to stop the angry thoughts before they disturb the mind.This is another area in which I would like lots of work.

Lucky for me the article has a method for following patience.  However, the method sounds more like learning the benefits of patience as a way to encourage oneself to develop patience.

Why would I want to require patience?  One good reason is to create good karma, "to have less enemies in this and future lifetimes," to die without worry, to be "reborn in the upper realms such as those the gods," for happiness in this lifetime and in future lifetimes.

Anger is a really ugly behavior, even if it's justified. The article states that it is "the worst of the non-virtues."  I know of one person who doesn't get angry.  Everyone else I know gets angry at some time or another, some more often than others. What I'm gathering from the article, when we get angry, that anger destroys any "merits we have created in a hundred eons."

Yet, those who are antagonistic are here to help us practice patience by becoming our teacher.  It is suggested that we think of the shortcomings of anger when it arises and replace that anger with patience.

As we all know, there is no peace in anger. There is no serenity, happiness or  beauty. There is only restlessness, suffering, pain, hatred. It that what I want? No. I choose serenity, happiness, peace and beauty.  What do you choose?

More next time.


Our perspective will change our perception. Our perception will change our experience. Our experience IS our life.

Serenity isn't freedom from the storm; it is peace within the storm.