Trust-

Trust-
Most of us have suffered because we trusted someone, or something, only to be disappointed, when things didn't turn out the way we expected them to.

A lady named June told me the following story;

The decision to adopt was never as issue, but I wanted twins.
I didn't know why, I just had it in my head that The Divine
would supply twins.
We were meant to have twins, so we bought twin cots,
a twin tandem pram, doubled up on clothes and we even got two windup toys that played music.
The number two just wouldn't leave my thoughts.
A few months later the adoption agency called us to go to China to see a twelve month old baby girl who had been abandoned outside a factory near Shanghai.
We loved her, and of course,
all thoughts of twins were put out of my head.
We gave away the tandem pram, the second cot,
and named the little girl Mia.
Somehow it all just seemed right.
I couldn't part with the second wind up toy that made music.
I joined an Internet forum that helped us cope as parents of adopted children.
I shared Mia's progress with strangers.
I noticed a lady from Florida that was talking about her baby, the same age as our Mia and she had used the same agency.
We started to talk by email and discovered her baby was found at the same factory,
at the same time.
When we exchanged photos, the similarities were amazing.
There were too many things the same, so we decided to have DNA tests.
After a wait of two months,
the answer, of course, the girls were twins.
We organized a trip to Florida and when they met they hugged.
It was as though they had not been parted.
We gave her the other windup toy.
They also had one more thing in common, the mother from Florida had also named her daughter Mia.

"Please Divine One help me to trust those little thoughts I know come from You !"

Nathan




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Begin again

Begin again

We are influenced throughout our lives, by events, by people, school, parents, our first trip overseas.
These can shape our lives.
It could have been our first job, our first friend, lover, first wife, any number of things,
but we are living our lives now according to how we felt at the time of those events.
Some of us cope and some of us don't .
This has been going on since the time of the Buddha, 2500 years ago and even back to first recorded history.
The Vedas of india, over 5700 years of history from China and the Middle East and before.
The Buddha was influenced by events such as death, that he saw for the first time, when he left the palace .
The Buddha after Enlightenment gave thousands of Dharma's on how people should live and behave.
Of course the best way to live our life is not to be influenced by anyone, or anything,
but to live according to our own credo.
As the Buddha said "be a light unto thyself".
We can decide to follow in today's language or maybe;
"To do the right thing,
because it's the right thing to do"., is a good start.
We can decide to;
Begin Again,
and the first step is the choice to make the step.
The choosing and re- choosing of what we want and who we want to be,
is what makes us human.
We can begin now to make a habit to be the person we want to be, as in the past we formed the habit of who we currently think we are.
Should we not like who,
or where we are,
we can begin again.
We eventually realise that all that constrains us, all of our sufferings are temporary,
mostly imagined, and were we someplace else, or someone else, our circumstance would change, our suffering would be different.
So why not begin again,
a new life story
getting rid of the old,
to make room for the new.
Sit in silence.
Consider what,
consider where,
consider who we are.

Choose to Begin Again.

Nathan






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We become what we think

The Buddha said;

"The mind is everything,

what you think,

you become."

Let me tell you a story about what we can become......

The wife---

So, he was about to putt on the last hole on the golf course,

when a funeral procession went by.

He stopped mid stroke and stood to attention with head bowed.

His friend said ,

"you are such a gentleman,"

 "not really," he replied,

"just saying goodby to the wife."

Is that what love is all about?

Do we spend one third,  or in most cases, half of our life span, with one woman, to play golf during her funeral?

We may as well play golf, as most of us don't know how lucky we are.

We should erect a statue to her, put fresh flowers and burn incense every day. 

We should say a prayer.

"Thank you for your sacrifice, putting up with my bad moods, my dirty washing, my noises, particularly while asleep."

"Thank you for cleaning the house, your dedication to my illness, my back rubs, my complaints, more noises."

"Thank you for accepting my strange family,

I accepted yours, even your mum.

What about the children?

You raised them almost single handed."

"How they dressed, got clean, fed, all a mystery to me.

They went to school, played sport, all a mystery to me.

The foods on the table, how it got there a mystery. 

I did the dishes, sometimes.

 When you come back,

in your next incarnation,

I shall marry you again.

 Next time, it will be different.

You gave me love, 

I gave you pain.

You gave me your all,

I held back.

You looked after our home,

I played golf.

Next time, it will be better.

Next time, please be my caddie."

We can laugh, or we can cry at this story. If the cap fits we must wear it and be responsible.

Of course should we wish to change, then change has already started to take place.

Our mind is the control.

We either live in the prison of our thoughts or free ourselves by not believing in our own rubbish.

The Buddha was right...

"We become what we think"

Nathan 

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Perfection--

Perfection--
A monk asked the Holy Master
"Why are you so happy,
so peaceful ?"
"I have accepted myself",
explained the Holy Master.
"Look out the window, do you see that bush with the beautiful red flowers, the large tree behind it?"
" I have been watching them each day for the 23 years I have been in this Temple and at no time, over the years, have I heard one compare itself to the other."
"The tree is, the bush is,
no comparison, you are taller than me, you have more flowers, you need less water."
"The difference between most people and what we see here is comparison."
"You, my dear monk, are always comparing.
More hair, better body, more money, larger car, house, better food,cooler, warmer,
the list is endless."
"We are told to become more like Jesus, Krishna, Buddha,
why?"
"Drop all of this, all the ideals of being not what we are."

"If you must compare, then;
"We are the snowflake that falls from the sky.
Each flake is perfection.
It is then gathered and made into snowmen by external forces, each snowman is different, but the underlying is perfection."
"As the snowman melts and turns to water, the water evaporates, returns to the sky and once again becomes a cloud and can return as a snowflake."
"Perfection."
"Again there is no comparison, the cycle of birth, life, death and re- birth happen automatically."
"My dear monk, your original face was perfection."
"I see perfection now before me."
"It is only your thoughts that make the difference,
it is comparison that makes the difference."

"To me you are perfection."

Nathan



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A friend's prayer;

A friend's prayer;

Her sister-inlaw was really a friend more than related just by marriage.
Her name was Linda.
She shared everything with Linda but for one thing.
She couldn't understand her passion for porcelain dolls.
Linda had about 150 of them.
The dolls were on shelves in a room just for the dolls.
She admired Linda for the way she kept them so beautifully.
Sadly, Linda became very ill and after a very short time,
she lost her battle with cancer.
Her brother gave the dolls to charity to be sold.
She was sad that she hadn't asked for just one doll to remember Linda, a keepsake,
a memory.
Linda's death was still fresh in her mind when her family took her to a local fair, they thought the trip would help the healing.
At the fair there was a row of marquees selling various goods. One caught her eye, amongst the snow globes and toys, there was a porcelain doll.
She gasped, it looked just like the ones Linda had kept.
Pale colour skin, blue eyes,
a beautiful dress,
a bonnet covering blond curly hair.
She had to have it.
She thought, everything is so expensive and she only had $20 with her.
She thought $100 and looked at the price tag, it was only $19.95.
Of course she bought the doll, and when she got home,
she placed the doll carefully on the dresser in her bedroom.
As she re-arranged the dolls dress she noticed a name on the inside of the leg.
The dolls name was Linda.
Her memory was now complete.
"Thank you to The Divine,"
she prayed
"You care enough to ease the pain of our losses."

Nathan




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Buddha Nature.

Buddha Nature.
When we have realised the truth, we become the happiest beings in the world.
We are free from all complexes and obsessions, free from the worries and troubles that torment others.
Our mental health is perfect.
We do not repent the past,
nor do we brood over the future.
We live fully in this present moment.
We appreciate and enjoy all things in the purest sense without self projection.
We are joyful, exultant, enjoying a pure life,
our faculties pleased,
free from anxiety, serene and peaceful.
We are free from our selfish desire, hatred, ignorance conceit, pride and all such defilements.
We are pure and gentle,
full of unconditional love,
compassion, kindness,
understanding and tolerance.
Our service to others is the purest for we have no thought of self.
We gain nothing, accumulate nothing, not even spiritually.
We are free from the illusion of self and the thirst for becoming.
This is our Buddha Nature.

Nathan


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Holiday-

Holiday-
When I announced that I was going to take a holiday,
friends told me to enjoy myself and don't do anything that they wouldn't do.
What does that mean?
That's really scarey,
would they eat someone?
I most certainly wouldn't do the things my wild friends get up to. Not that there is anything wrong with being wild, I just don't do wild things.
I go on holiday to relax.
I don't speak,
no social intercourse.
Just commune with nature
and watch the Universe at work firsthand. Of course there are other things, like the food, always the food.
The most important part for me is the letting go.
We carry so much nonsense around with us, so much garbage. Concerns from the past, future dreams that will never happen.
The stress and suffering caused by past and future.
When we realise the cause,
we become truely enlightened.
All of a sudden, the surroundings look and feel different.
Very clear, crystal clear,
no judgement, only joy and love.
Even when transport is not on time, service not the best, there are flies and bitey things, never mind.
We rise above the argument in the mind. We overcome obstacles that normally stay and build, until we share with strangers what we hate about everything.
I don't do that anymore.
I realized that I caused the problem.
I was the argument.
I only saw in others, what I didn't like in myself.
All that has changed.
There is nothing I don't like about me.
Unconditional love, for myself and all beings.
It's not easy,
no judgement,
unconditional love,
it takes work.
The decision to practise is the work.
It takes a decision.
Our whole life is based on decisions.
To get up in the morning,
till the time we sleep, decisions.
The decision to be nice,
that is another matter.
What to eat, what to wear, which wife, which life.
These are the easy decisions.
When it comes to behavior,
that is another matter.
To be at peace with oneself is the key. How can we be at peace when our behaviour is determined by our emotional state?
Most spend most of our waking life in discontent, worry, anxiety, depressed
or other negative states.
These directly effect our emotional behavior.
When we are able to enjoy simple things, like listening to the sound of wind, or the rain, and watch the beauty of clouds moving across the sky.
Be alone without the feeling of loneliness, not needing to be entertained.
When we find ourselves treating a complete stranger with kindness, no thought of return.
Then a space opens up,
our behavior changes.
It is this space that gives us a sense of well-being, of peace, of what the Indian sages called Ananda-the Bliss of Being.
We appreciate simple things, our own company, we relate to others with loving kindness.
The common element
contentment
peace
being alive
being
I love holiday.

Nathan


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