Jendhamuni - Buddhism and inspiring quotes

Birdie Love

Comment July 30, 2015

Parrots are wild, not domestic

Currently the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) bans the sale of any wild-caught species, yet the parrots’ popularity continues to drive illegal trade.

Some parrot species are highly endangered. In other cases, once tame birds have reproduced in the wild and established thriving feral populations in foreign ecosystems. The monk (green) parakeet, for example, now lives in several U.S. states. ~Source: NationalGeographic
Get up and do something

Comment July 30, 2015

If you can’t sleep, then get up and do something instead of lying there worrying.
It’s the worry that gets you, not the lack of sleep. ~Dale Carnegie
Like a thief in the night

Comment July 30, 2015

Worry can sneak up on you like a thief in the night. Learn what these well-known people
had to say about worry – and how it can be the ultimate waste of time. ~ Stephanie Sarkis Ph.D.
No expectations

Comment July 30, 2015

No regrets… just lessons. No worries… just acceptance.
No expectations… just gratitude. Life is too short.
~Jesse Joseph
Whatever happens

Comment July 30, 2015

Positive people are usually the happy and no worries people,
because they can think that whatever happens
and that everything will be fine. ~Unknown
In a true love relationship

Comment July 29, 2015

by Ven. Dr. Sri Dhammananda

There are different kinds of love, and these are variously expressed as motherly love, brotherly love, sensual love, emotional love, sexual love, selfish love, selfless love, and universal love.

If people develop only their carnal or selfish love towards each other, that type of love cannot last long. In a true love relationship, one should not ask how much one can get, but how much one can give.

When beauty, complexion and youth start to fade away, a husband who considers only the physical aspects of love may think of acquiring another young one. That type of love is lust. If a man really develops love as an expression of human concern for another being, he will not lay emphasis only on the external beauty and physical attractiveness of his partner. The beauty and attractiveness of his partner should be in his heart and mind, not in what he sees. Likewise, the wife who follows Buddhist teachings will never neglect her husband even though he has become old, poor or sick.
The will to change

Comment July 29, 2015

Sometimes we look at our life and wish things were different. We sit and hope
that they will change but often as time goes by and we look back, we realize
we are still in the same place. For change does not need time but rather
determination. The will to change your life for the better. ~Mahmoud El Hallab
The weapon for self-protection is loving-kindness

Comment July 28, 2015

Killing for Self Protection

The Buddha has advised everyone to abstain from killing. If everybody accepts this advice, human beings would not kill each other. In the case where a person’s life is threatened, the Buddha says even then it is not advisable to kill out of self-protection. The weapon for self-protection is loving-kindness. One who practises this kindness very seldom comes across such misfortune. However, man loves his life so much that he is not prepared to surrender himself to others; in actual practice, most people would struggle for self-protection. It is natural and every living being struggles and kills others for self-protection but kammic effect depends on their mental attitude. During the struggle to protect himself, if he happens to kill his opponent although he has no intention to kill, then he is not responsible for that action. On the other hand, if he kills another person under any circumstances with the intention to kill, then he is not free from the kammic reaction; he has to face the consequences. We must remember that killing is killing; when we disapprove of it, we call it ‘murder’. When we punish man for murdering, we call it ‘capital punishment’. If our own soldiers are killed by an ‘enemy’ we call it ‘slaughter’. However, if we approve a killing, we call it ‘war’. But if we remove the emotional content from these words, we can understand that killing is killing.

In recent years many scientists and some religionists have used the expressions like ‘humane killing’, ‘mercy killing’, ‘gentle killing’ and ‘painless killing’ to justify the ending of a life. They argue that if the victim feels no pain, if the knife is sharp, killing is justified. Buddhism can never accept these arguments because it is not how the killing occurs that is important, but the fact that a life of one being is terminated by another. No one has any right to do that for whatever reason. ~Ven. Dr. Sri Dhammananda

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We gain knowledge from our mistakes

Comment July 28, 2015

Education is not all the lessons we learn from, in our life. We all are witness
to our own life, and we gain knowledge from our mistakes and that gives
us wisdom, we can all speak about our own lessons we learn from living
our own life, & that they don’t teach in school. ~Glen Rambharack
The path of immortality

Comment July 28, 2015

Watchfulness is the path of immortality:
Unwatchfulness is the path of death.
Those who are watchful never die:
Those who do not watch are already as dead.

Those who with a clear mind have seen this truth,
Those who are wise and ever watchful,
They feel the joy of watchfulness,
The joy of the path of the great.

And those who in high thought and in deep contemplation
With ever living power advance on the path,
They in the end reach NIRVANA,
The peace supreme and infinite joy.

~ Buddha, The Dhammapada

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Shantidevas’ Bodhisattva vows

Should anyone wish to ridicule me and make me an object of jest and scorn why should I possibly care if I have dedicated myself to others?

Let them do as they wish with me so long as it does not harm them. May no one who encounters me ever have an insignificant contact.

Regardless whether those whom I meet respond towards me with anger or faith, may the mere fact of our meeting contribute to the fulfilment of their wishes.

May the slander, harm and all forms of abuse that anyone should direct towards me act as a cause of their enlightenment.