Saturday, July 31, 2004

Wicked People and Buddhist View - 1

Hi, I just wanted to add one thing to your very beautiful email, which detailed why people act the way that they do, and the various ways in which you can work with the situation you find yourself in.

The teachings say that what we experience is the result of our past actions. To that end, when you ask why you experience what you do, and whether it is a reflection of one's own mind, I guess you could say that it is in particular a reflection of your own past mind. By which I mean that your mind in the past, whether in this life, or previous lives, has acted in many ways which have resulted in the situations you now find yourself in.

So in that way, they are not the result of what currently are, more to do with your past. In that way, they are not a reason to blame yourself for what you find yourself in, despite all your good intentions and actions now. Furthermore, utlimately these things are not real, they are merely appearances to your mind, the play of mind itself. So speaking relatively, as we focus on doing good actions now, our experience of the world will gradually change. And speaking ultimately, all dharmas are 'same taste', all the play of luminous emptiness, without 'good' or 'bad.

There are many ways to 'handle' our experience, as your email outlined, and to which I've added slightly to. The trick seems to be to find the angles which work for you, and just keep on 'doing the right thing' .....

very best wishes to you in the Dharma, and wishing your obstacles and difficulties dissolve before you .....

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