The Burden of Selfishness, by Buddhadasa Bhikkhu

Six Arm Kuan Yin. Photo RSR, V&A, LondonAs soon as there is ‘self’, there is selfishness. These two are very different, nonetheless, they are inseparable. The ‘self arises, then selfishness comes. And selfishness is a powerful and destructive burden which can easily be observed in oneself and in the world.

Selfishness gives rise to love, greed, anger, hatred, fear, worry, frustration, envy, jealousy, possessiveness. All of these are aspects of selfishness. Love through fear and worry, are just different aspects of selfishness. All this is such a powerfully destructive burden upon the mind. It weighs the mind down. If we get outside of our little worlds and start to observe what is really happening around us and also within us, if we come out of our clouds, break free of our daydreams, and really look, we shall see all this selfishness and all the harm and pain that it causes, both to ourselves and to others, This is the burden of selfishness. (more…)

Dalai Lama: I never get angry

Tibet’s exiled Buddhist leader, the Dalai Lama, has said that he expects to return to the country, which he fled in 1959 after a failed uprising against Chinese rule.

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The 76-year-old monk told Today presenter Sarah Montague that his own health remained quite good “so I am expecting another 10, 20 years. So within that, definitely things will change”. (more…)

Fool the Devil, a story by Trevor Leggett

Monk with hammer. © Marcelle HanselaarNow, there are about forty thousand Chinese characters in the total Chinese language. Nobody, of course, can possibly know them all, but they exist. The ordinary educated person knows, or used to know, some four thousand, and then the specialists know one or two thousand in ad­dition in their own field by which they recognize each other like magic passwords. Of course, the Bodhisattvas in China know them all; and the Devil knows them all too! He’s been around, and he’s got these forty thousand off — or he thinks he has! (more…)

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