When I do my morning prayers these days, one of my prayer objectives is to bring forth the Buddhahood within me. In other words, I really want to elevate my life condition. Buddhism believes that there are 10 states of life that a person moves about. You can read more about the 10 states here.
Why is elevating life state important? When you are in a higher state of life, you view things with a different lense. You view problems and challenges with wisdom and compassion. A real example: A girl came back from work. Her mother cooked fish for dinner. She gave her mother a pat on the shoulder, thanked her for a hard day's work - basically showing appreciation for her effort.
Her sister, in a bad mood that day due to work, came back, saw the fish and started complaining that the fish stinks because it is too fishy, why do we always eat fish, fish are making a mess of the kitchen and dining table.
If you look at it, the fish is not the problem here. It is just a fish. But look at the the effect of the same fish has on to people with 2 different life conditions. One has gratitude and the other condemn the cook and spread negative energy.
This is why having a high life state is important. People call it having a positive mindset. It's the same concept :)
Why is elevating life state important? When you are in a higher state of life, you view things with a different lense. You view problems and challenges with wisdom and compassion. A real example: A girl came back from work. Her mother cooked fish for dinner. She gave her mother a pat on the shoulder, thanked her for a hard day's work - basically showing appreciation for her effort.
Her sister, in a bad mood that day due to work, came back, saw the fish and started complaining that the fish stinks because it is too fishy, why do we always eat fish, fish are making a mess of the kitchen and dining table.
If you look at it, the fish is not the problem here. It is just a fish. But look at the the effect of the same fish has on to people with 2 different life conditions. One has gratitude and the other condemn the cook and spread negative energy.
This is why having a high life state is important. People call it having a positive mindset. It's the same concept :)
Although I'm no expert, I think the 10 states or worlds are exclusive only to Daishonin Buddhism, and not Buddhism itself in its original context. Arguable, since no one really remembers the original context anyway.
ReplyDeleteThe moral lesson as given in your example above can be learnt from any self-improvement book or simply, common sense.
But it's good that you'll enjoy fish everytime. I still hate sushi.
Buddhism is reason and common sense :)
ReplyDeleteThe one complained about the fish did not have joy and peace in her life. Jesus gave us that kind of joy and peace and love that one will always feel grateful of what she has.
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