Once Krishna and Arjuna were walking towards a village. Arjuna was pestering Krishna, asking him why Karna should be considered an unparallelled Donor & not him ?
Krishna, turned two mountains into gold.
Then said, "Arjuna, distribute these two gold mountains among villagers, but you must donate every bit of it ".
Arjuna went into the village, and proclaimed he was going to donate gold to every villager, and asked them to gather near the mountain. The villagers sang his praises and Arjuna walked towards the mountains with a huffed up chest.
For two days and two nights Arjuna shovelled gold from the mountain and donated to each villager. The mountains did not diminish in the slightest.
Most villagers came back and stood in queue within minutes. Now Arjuna was exhausted, but not ready to let go of his Ego, told Krishna he couldn't go on any longer without rest.
Then Krishna called Karna and told him to donate every bit of the two gold mountains.
Karna called the villagers, and said "Those two Gold mountains are yours. " and walked away.
Arjuna sat dumbfounded. Why hadn't this thought occurred to him?
Krishna smiled mischievously and told him "Arjuna, subconsciously, you were attracted to the gold, you regretfully gave it away to each villager, giving them what you thought was a generous amount. Thus the size of your donation to each villager depended only on your imagination.
Karna holds no such reservations. Look at him walking away after giving away a fortune, he doesn't expect people to sing his praises, he doesn't even care if people talk good or bad about him behind his back. That is the sign of a man already on the path of enlightenment".
Giving with an Expectation of a Return in the form of a Compliment or Thanks is not a Gift, then it becomes a Trade.
Give without expecting anything in Return.
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A man can only attain knowledge with the help of those who possess it. This must be understood from the very beginning. One must learn from him who knows.
Without self knowledge, without understanding the working and functions of his machine, man cannot be free, he cannot govern himself and he will always remain a slave.
Knowledge and Understanding are quite different. Only understanding can lead to being, whereas knowledge is but a passing presence in it.
Remember yourself always and everywhere.
By teaching others you will learn yourself.
Conscious love evokes the same in response.
Emotional love evokes the opposite.
Physical love depends on type and polarity.
Faith of consciousness is freedom.
Faith of feeling is slavery.
Faith of body is stupidity.
Hope of consciousness is strength.
Hope of feeling is cowardice.
Hope of body is disease.
Awakening begins when a man realizes that he is going nowhere and does not know where to go.
He who has got rid of the disease "Tomorrow" has the possibility to attain what he is here for.
Don't judge a man by the tales of others.
If you help others, you will be helped, perhaps tomorrow, perhaps in one hundred years, but you will be helped. Nature must pay off the debt... It is a mathematical law and all life is mathematics.
There is only one kind of magic and this is ‘doing.’
You must understand that ordinary efforts do not count; only super-efforts count.
In the river of life suffering is not intentional. In conscious life suffering is intentional and of great value.
Man is given a limited quantity of experiences; being economical with them lengthens his life.
Man is refreshed not by the quantity but by the quality of sleep—sleep little without regret.
Men have their minds and women their feelings more highly developed. Either alone can give nothing. Think what you feel and feel what you think. Fusion of the two produces another force.
Self-observation brings man to the realization of the necessity of self-change. And in observing himself a man notices that self-observation itself brings about certain changes in his inner processes. He begins to understand that self-observation is an instrument of self-change, a means of awakening.
The only type of sexual relations possible are those with someone who is as advanced and capable as oneself.
We attract forces according to our being.
We have good and bad angels. The good angels work by way of our voluntary, active nature and the bad through our passive nature.
What is possible for individual man is impossible for the masses.
You should understand, and establish it as a firm rule, not to pay attention to other people’s opinions. You must be free of people surrounding you, and when you are free inside you will be free of them.
Only help him who is not an idler.
Man's possibilities are very great. You cannot even conceive a shadow of what man is capable of attaining.
By Teaching others you will learn yourself.
Life is real only then, When 'I am'
We are sheep kept to provide wool for our masters
who feed us and keep us as slaves of illusion.
But we have a chance of escape and our masters
are anxious to help us,
but we like being sheep. It is comfortable.
Do not be affected by externals.
In themselves they are harmless;
it is we who allow ourselves to be hurt by them.
Unconscious sufffering will have no result;
it is better to have bread and voluntarily not eat it.
Unconscious suffering, in one center only, l
eads to lunatic asylum.
Only conscious suffering is of value.
Self-observation is an instrument of selfchange,
a means of awakening.
By observing himself he throws, as it were,
a ray of light onto his inner processes
which have hitherto worked in complete darkness.
And under the influence of this light
the processes themselves begin to change.
Man has no individuality.
He has no single, big I.
Man is divided into a multiplicity of small I’s.
A man decides to get up early beginning from the following day.
One I, or a group of I’s, decide this.
But getting up is the business of another I
who entirely disagrees with the decision
and may even know absolutely nothing about it.
The more a man understands what he is doing,
the greater will be the result of his efforts.
This is a fundamental principle of the Fourth Way.
The results of his work are in direct proportion
to the consciousness of the work.
All new powers and capacities of realization
come always in one and the same way.
At first they appear in the form of flashes
at rare and short moments;
afterwards they appear more often
and last longer until, finally,
after very long work
they become permanent.
A man sees the faults of others more easily than he sees his own.
At the same time on the path of self-study he learns that
he himself possesses all the faults that he finds in others.
But there are many things that he does not see in himself,
whereas in other people he begins to see them.
But, as I have just said, in this case he knows that
these features are his own.
Thus other members of the group serve him as mirrors
in which he sees himself.
But, of course, in order to see himself in other people's faults
and not merely to see the faults of others,
a man must be very much on his guard against
and be very sincere with himself.
I ask you to believe nothing that
you cannot verify for yourself.
In the river of life suffering is not intentional.
In conscious life suffering is intentional and of great value.
Laughter relieves us of superfluous energy,
which, if it remained unused,
might become negative, that is, poison.
Laughter is the antidote.
As long as our ideas are the same,
we will never be apart.
You are in prison.
If you wish to get out of prison,
the first thing you must do is to realize that
you are in prison.
If you think you are free, you can't escape.
A miracle is not the breaking of physical laws,
but rather represents laws which are
incomprehensible to us.
Remember yourself always and everywhere.
Awakening is possible
only for those who seek it and want it,
for those who are ready to struggle with themselves
and work on themselves
for a very long time
and very persistently in order to attain it.
Conscious faith is freedom.
Emotional faith is slavery.
Mechanical faith is foolishness.
Two things in life are infinite;
the stupidity of man
and the mercy of God.
Without struggle, no progress and no result.
Every breaking of habit produces a change in the machine.
You can never awaken using the same system
that put you to sleep in the first place.
Don't judge a man by the tales of others.
What is possible for individual man
is impossible for the masses.
A considerable percentage of the people
we meet on the street are people
who are empty inside, that is,
they are actually already dead.
It is fortunate for us that we do not see and
do not know it.
If we knew what a number of people are actually dead
and what a number of these dead people govern
our lives, we should go mad with horror.
Self-observation brings man to
the realization of the necessity of self-change.
And in observing himself a man notices
that self-observation itself
brings about certain changes in his inner processes.
He begins to understand that self-observation
is an instrument of self-change,
a means of awakening.
By grounding our awareness
in the living sensation of our bodies the 'I AM',
our real presence, can awaken.
Love of consciousness evokes the same in response.
Love of feeling evokes the opposite
Love of body depends only on type and polarity.
Without self knowledge, without understanding
the working and functions of his machine,
man cannot be free,
he cannot govern himself and
he will always remain a slave.
One must do everything one can and then say
'God have mercy!'
Better to die than live in sleep.
Only super-efforts count.
man lies to himself a lot.
A man will renounce any pleasures you like
but he will not give up his suffering.
It is the greatest mistake to think that
man is always one and the same.
A man is never the same for long.
He is continually changing.
He seldom remains the same even for half an hour.
Patience is the mother of will.
Humanity is moving in a circle.
The progress in mechanical things
of the past hundred years has proceeded
at the cost of losing many other things which
perhaps were much more important for it.
Practice love on animals first;
they react better and more sensitively.
A man can only attain knowledge
with the help of those who possess it.
This must be understood
from the very beginning.
One must learn from him who knows.
The key to happiness is not to be identified with
what is impermanent.
Only help him who is not an idler.
Rest comes not from the quantity
but from the quality of sleep.
The only type of sexual relations possible are those
with someone who is as advanced and capable as oneself.
Awakening begins when a man realizes that
he is going nowhere
and does not know where to go.
Love without knowledge
is demonic.
Begin with the possible;
begin with one step.
A miracle is not the breaking of physical laws,
but rather represents laws which are
incomprehensible to us.
1
Do not be idolatrous about or bound to any doctrine, theory, or ideology, even Buddhist ones. Buddhist systems of thought are guiding means; they are not absolute truth.
2
Do not think the knowledge you presently possess is changeless, absolute truth. Avoid being narrow minded and bound to present views. Learn and practice nonattachment from views in order to be open to receive others' viewpoints. Truth is found in life and not merely in conceptual knowledge. Be ready to learn throughout your entire life and to observe reality in yourself and in the world at all times.
3
Do not force others, including children, by any means whatsoever, to adopt your views, whether by authority, threat, money, propaganda, or even education. However, through compassionate dialogue, help others renounce fanaticism and narrow-mindedness.
4
Do not avoid suffering or close your eyes before suffering. Do not lose awareness of the existence of suffering in the life of the world. Find ways to be with those who are suffering, including personal contact, visits, images and sounds. By such means, awaken yourself and others to the reality of suffering in the world.
5
Do not accumulate wealth while millions are hungry. Do not take as the aim of your life fame, profit, wealth, or sensual pleasure. Live simply and share time, energy, and material resources with those who are in need.
6
Do not maintain anger or hatred. Learn to penetrate and transform them when they are still seeds in your consciousness. As soon as they arise, turn your attention to your breath in order to see and understand the nature of your hatred.
7
Do not lose yourself in dispersion and in your surroundings. Practice mindful breathing to come back to what is happening in the present moment. Be in touch with what is wondrous, refreshing, and healing both inside and around you. Plant seeds of joy, peace, and understanding in yourself in order to facilitate the work of transformation in the depths of your consciousness.
8
Do not utter words that can create discord and cause the community to break. Make every effort to reconcile and resolve all conflicts, however small.
9
Do not say untruthful things for the sake of personal interest or to impress people. Do not utter words that cause division and hatred. Do not spread news that you do not know to be certain. Do not criticize or condemn things of which you are not sure. Always speak truthfully and constructively. Have the courage to speak out about situations of injustice, even when doing so may threaten your own safety.
10
Do not use the Buddhist community for personal gain or profit, or transform your community into a political party. A religious community, however, should take a clear stand against oppression and injustice and should strive to change the situation without engaging in partisan conflicts.
11
Do not live with a vocation that is harmful to humans and nature. Do not invest in companies that deprive others of their chance to live. Select a vocation that helps realise your ideal of compassion.
12
Do not kill. Do not let others kill. Find whatever means possible to protect life and prevent war.
13
Possess nothing that should belong to others. Respect the property of others, but prevent others from profiting from human suffering or the suffering of other species on Earth.
14
Do not mistreat your body. Learn to handle it with respect. Do not look on your body as only an instrument. Preserve vital energies (sexual, breath, spirit) for the realisation of the Way. (For brothers and sisters who are not monks and nuns:) Sexual expression should not take place without love and commitment. In sexual relations, be aware of future suffering that may be caused. To preserve the happiness of others, respect the rights and commitments of others. Be fully aware of the responsibility of bringing new lives into the world. Meditate on the world into which you are bringing new beings.
http://viewonbuddhism.org/resources/14_precepts.html
