No.172 - My religion is loving kindness.

No.171 - Anything that flowers must have freedom, must have light; it cannot be restricted.

Let a thought flower.

Awareness is that state of mind which takes in everything -the crows flying across the sky, the flowers on the trees, the people sitting in front, the colors they are wearing- being extensively aware which needs watching, observing, taking in the shape of the leaf, the shape of the trunk, the shape of the head of another, what he is doing. To be extensively aware and from there acting, that is to be aware of the totality of one's own being. To have a mere sectional capacity, a fragmentation of capacity or capacity fragmented, and to pursue that capacity and derive experience through that capacity which is limited—that makes the quality of the mind mediocre, limited, narrow. But an awareness of the totality of one's own being, understood through the awareness of every thought and every feeling, and never limiting it, letting every thought and every feeling flower, and therefore being aware—that is entirely different from action or concentration that is merely capacity and therefore limited.To let a thought flower or a feeling flower requires attention,not concentration. I mean by the flowering of a thought giving freedom to it to see what happens, what is taking place in your thought, in your feeling. Anything that flowers must have freedom, must have light; it cannot be restricted. You cannot put any value on it, you cannot say, "That is right, that is wrong; this should be, and that should not be", thereby, you limit the flowering of thought. And it can only flower in this awareness. Therefore, if you go into it very deeply, you will find that this flowering of thought is the ending of thought.

 - Krishnamurti, The Book of Life

No.170 - Sharing journey with friends.

"Sometimes we forget to make time for ourselves, the people around us and our loved ones. 

Let us reminds ourselves to pause and perhaps find solace where all of us look out for each other, make a difference in someone's life."

No.169 - Suneetha teaches us how to ‘Worship the East’

Suneetha teaches us how to ‘Worship the East’

By  Malinda Seneviratne

Buddhist children would know the story of Sigala, the young man who rising early morning was wont to worship the six quarters, the East, South, West, North, Nadir and Zenith.  He was merely following directions given by his dying father, ‘The six quarters, dear son, you shall worship’.  The Buddha upon noticing this strange ritual explained to the young Sigala what the six quarters were.  We will get back to this presently.

In this island called Sri Lanka where everything is said to be perfect everywhere except in the former conflict zones, there is a place called Kotavehera.  There, in a small, half-built cottage lives a little girl.  Her name is Suneetha.  She is 13 years old.  She lives with her father, R.W. William.  He is unemployed.  They survive on a grant of Rs 3,000 given by the state and their Samurdhi entitlement.  The two have with great effort dug a well at the bottom of the small plot of land they own.  They grow their own vegetables.  

Suneetha wakes up early every single day.  She prepares breakfast and lunch for herself and her father. She cleans the house, sweeps the garden.  She attends to all household matters.  Then she walks to school.  She come back, cooks, bathes her father and does her homework.  By lamp light. She dreams of doing well in school and entering university.  She has a smaller dream.  She wants a bicycle, so she can get to school on time; there are days she gets late because there’s no one else to do all the things she does in the morning.  She has no siblings.  Her mother had abandoned them when she was very small. Her father is blind.  

How many of us at the age of five or six did all these things?  Those of us who have little children, do we see them doing anything like this?  Perhaps we would have and perhaps they would in similar circumstances.  Necessity provokes, after all.  Still, few would conclude that Suneetha is a very special child.  And now it is time to return to the Singalovada Sutta; rather to the Eastern Quarter that young Sigala misread and therefore mis-worshipped.
This is what the Exalted One said: ‘The following should be looked upon as the six quarters. The parents should be looked upon as the East, teachers as the South, wife and children as the West, friends and associates as the North, servants and employees as the Nadir, ascetics and brahmans as the Zenith.’

And this is what he said constitutes ‘worshipping’ the East: ‘In five ways, young householder, a child should minister to his parents as the East: (i) Having supported me I shall support them, (ii) I shall do their duties, (iii) I shall keep the family tradition, (iv) I shall make myself worthy of my inheritance, (v) furthermore I shall offer alms in honor of my departed relatives.’
Suneetha worships the East in ways that many who are more educated, more experienced and superior in years do not.  Indeed, she humbles all of us by what she does.  

She supports her father.  She attends to all duties that convention determines are ‘musts’ and much more too.  We do not know what her family traditions are, but it is hard to believe that she has brought any dishonor to family or tradition. Indeed if at all she’s elevated whatever is considered ‘traditional’ to a point where she teaches all families of all traditions a poignant lesson in humanity.  She inherited little, obviously, but she is certainly worthy of whatever she got.  Let us hope that she will not have to offer alms as per the last ‘tenet’ for a long time to come.