Right now, someone is crying

[manas]

Right now, in all probability, someone, somewhere in the world, is crying bitterly, having lost a family member. Someone is working hard, enduring discomfort, disrespect, and incredibly low pay, just to get enough food for their children. Some house maid is probably enduring the unwelcome advances of the 'master of the household', feeling shamed and helpless. So many human beings are experiencing so much pain and sorrow, and for them it's as palpable as this peaceful morning I'm spending sitting here, typing this post.

Part of me wishes to reach out to them, to ease their misery, to make everything better for them. These are real beings, not just flickering images on a screen, watched from the safety of our living rooms. 'All fabricated things are not-self', that is true; and yet, we cannot deny, so much pain and sorrow is going on, experienced by beings embodied just as we are.

My aspiration: if by this Path (of Dhamma) I manage to free this heart from the poison of ignorance, may I not forget the sufferings of others. If I become free, may I then attempt to free others, as the Buddha and so many of his Noble Disciples have done.

With metta

[manas]

It occurred to me this morning, that while I experience a mixture of happiness & distress, that for many others, this life is basically a trial to be endured.

[santa100]

Very true. 2 suttas come to my mind:

Long have you (repeatedly) experienced the death of a father... the death of a brother... the death of a sister... the death of a son... the death of a daughter... loss with regard to relatives... loss with regard to wealth... loss with regard to disease. The tears you have shed over loss with regard to disease while transmigrating & wandering this long, long time — crying & weeping from being joined with what is displeasing, being separated from what is pleasing — are greater than the water in the four great oceans. (SN 15.3)

Wander forth, O bhikkhus, for the welfare of the multitude, for the happiness of the multitude, out of compassion for the world, for the good, welfare, and happiness of devas and humans. Let not two go the same way. Teach, O bhikkhus, the Dhamma that is good in the beginning, good in the middle, good in the end, with the right meaning and phrasing. (SN 4.453)

[SamKR]

Right now, in all probability, someone, somewhere in the world, is crying bitterly, having lost a family member. Someone is working hard, enduring discomfort, disrespect, and incredibly low pay, just to get enough food for their children. Some house maid is probably enduring the unwelcome advances of the 'master of the household', feeling shamed and helpless. So many human beings are experiencing so much pain and sorrow, and for them it's as palpable as this peaceful morning I'm spending sitting here, typing this post.

Part of me wishes to reach out to them, to ease their misery, to make everything better for them. These are real beings, not just flickering images on a screen, watched from the safety of our living rooms. 'All fabricated things are not-self', that is true; and yet, we cannot deny, so much pain and sorrow is going on, experienced by beings embodied just as we are.

My aspiration: if by this Path (of Dhamma) I manage to free this heart from the poison of ignorance, may I not forget the sufferings of others. If I become free, may I then attempt to free others, as the Buddha and so many of his Noble Disciples have done.

With metta

Sadhu...

[equilibrium]

.....

.....all very true but at the very same time, everyone finds there exact place in the flow.....a massive sea of suffering yet all one needs to do is to open their eyes and see and question why?
By questioning, we seek for answers which removes the ignorance within ourselves.....yet only oneself can help oneself.

Buddhism in a Nutshell by Narada Mahathera: http://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/auth ... l.html#ch6

There is nothing in this world that happens by blind chance or accident. To say that anything happens by chance, is no more true than that this book has come here of itself. Strictly speaking, nothing happens to man that he does not deserve for some reason or another.

We ourselves are responsible for our own deeds, happiness and misery. We build our own hells. We create our own heavens. We are the architects of our own fate. In short we ourselves are our own kamma.

A Buddhist who is fully convinced of the doctrine of Kamma does not pray to another to be saved but confidently relies on himself for his purification because it teaches individual responsibility.

[BuddhaSoup]

While we are taught that kamma is this accumulation of past actions and present actions, it goes too far to suggest that people who are suffering or in trauma or in distress should be seen to have somehow 'deserved' this status. Kamma is not blame, nor is it a reason for us to feel less compassion for others.

I like the fact that Manas posted what was in the original post. It's a reminder that the Buddha did not insist that we sit in our huts and ignore or dismiss what was going on in the world around us. None of us can help the starving child in central Africa at the moment, but we can do small or big things in our local worlds to relieve suffering. We can act locally, and expand to reach others in distant places, too. That is as well kamma,and karuna, and prajna in action, the accumulation of good acts that lead to an accumulation of good and well intentioned results.

Bhikkhu Bodhi discusses kamma as creating "tendencies." It seems to me that there is direct cause and effect, but it is not so blunt as some would see it; it may be more nuanced. To be caught in a tsunami may not be the result of kamma, but the result of many others actions.

When people are suffering, we must really do what we can to alleviate this suffering. It is not enough to suggest that they are reaping their own kamma. Call it the bodhisatta ideal, but we make kamma and merit for ourselves by appreciating, as Manas does, that there is suffering in the world.

[m0rl0ck]

Thats a wonderful aspiration. I hope you can go far toward its realization

Also, metta is not something prominent enough in my practice, thank you for the encouragement

[manas]

Gosh, thanks to everyone for their replies. I was in an emotional state of mind when I wrote the above. States of mind really do come, and go.

I admit some mild embarrassment today at having expressed all that, because although I do feel such heartfelt emotions from time to time, apart from taking care of my kids, and pets, with (I hope, a sufficient amount of) love & care, I'm not really doing much for wider humanity at present. Still, it was a nice aspiration.

Kind regards