peace

Engaged Buddhism: Bringing Meditation Into Compassionate Action

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Monks and volunteers assisting with the rescue efforts after the earthquake in Nepal

Monks and volunteers assisting with the rescue efforts after the earthquake in Nepal

 

When people think about Buddhist monks and nuns they usually think of them sitting high up in the mountains somewhere, meditating for countless hours and rarely making any contact with modern civilization. For some isolated communities this might be true but for the majority of the ordained Buddhists, their lives are a mixture of traditional monastery life as well as modern day living. They may spend several hours a day meditating, chanting and studying, but many monks and nuns are well-versed in how to use Facebook, have mobile phones and in Buddhist traditions where the uniform code is a bit more relaxed, some of them may even wear Nike shoes.
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Letting Go In The Moment

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Image Attribution - Raising Ecstasy on Facebook

Every moment we choose to let go of our fears and expectations, it gives us the ability to simply see ‘what is’. There is no moment that is more important than the present one. And it is when our minds are open without judgment and expectation that we see the peace that naturally resides within us. When we can tap into that depth of being, over and over again, every situation becomes a dance to see how much more we can allow ourselves to let go.
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Complete Peace

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The Enthusiastic Buddhist - Complete Peace

When I was a teenager I used to be very afraid of disappointment. So whenever I went into a situation where there was a chance of potentially gaining something good from it (e.g. a prize, some attention, just having a good time), I would say to myself, ‘Expect the worst’. Although I never really took this advice too seriously, I found that by simply thinking this, it helped me to drop all my fears rather than reinforce them. By ‘expecting the worst’ it naturally helped me to drop all the cravings, hopes and expectations that I had in my mind. And far from making the experience miserable or boring, what happened was that I began practicing mindfulness instead. So whatever was happening I simply enjoyed it without needing it to be better or different from what the actual experience was.
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