August 13, 2008 let go of expectations.
having done so
whenever something good happens
we will be content.
if things do not work out
we will not be disappointed.
either way
we will remain calm and balanced.
~ path to peace ~
August 8, 2008 Before we can fix a problem, we need to understand what it is and how it developed. I'm not sure how fixable our oil addiction is, but as with any addiction, admitting we have a problem comes first.
August 7, 2008 July 31, 2008 
A few nights ago, I was talking with someone who told me he had been listening to a talk I had given some years ago. In the talk, I had related a true story about a snake, a cat, and a compassionate husband and wife. You can read the blog entry that tells what happened here. Essentially, a couple found a six-foot python in their bathroom. Worried about their cat, yet not wanting to harm the snake, they called a snake catcher who caught the snake and released it unharmed in a safer habitat.
The person who had listened to the story at night later went to sleep. The next day, he listened to the news. One of the major stories was of a couple who found a snake. But the husband's reaction was very different from the husband in the above account. This man acted not out of compassion but more likely out of fear, and possibly anger. It is believed that he and his wife were trying to flush out the snake that was in a shed. The man's gun went off accidentally, and he shot his wife dead. They had four children.
Every moment, we decide what to do in the next. Every choice will have a consequence. What consequences?
The mind of understanding. Or the mind of fear.
Knowing that you had acted wisely. Or knowing that you had acted impulsively, without thinking.
A moment of knowing you did what was compassionate. Or a lifetime of knowing you had killed the mother of your four children.
July 30, 2008 Maitreya will succeed Sakyamuni Buddha to become the fifth Buddha in the Saha world. He presently resides in the inner court of the Tusita heaven. Tusita is a Sanskrit word meaning “being aware that one has enough.” What is the criterion for attaining Buddhahood? To know that one has enough! One who is aware that one has enough will attain Buddhahood. Therefore, bodhisattvas who are waiting to succeed [become the next Buddha after the current one has entered parinirvana] Buddhas live in the Tusita heaven and not anywhere else.
Those who know that they have enough desire nothing. Those who are not content still have desires. In this sutra, Maitreya is listed here to signify that those who learn and practice this Dharma door are like bodhisattvas who are waiting to succeed Buddhas. This is truly a method that is hard to believe. But this is the truth, because when one practices this Dharma door, one will attain Buddhahood in one lifetime.
Maitreya is now in the Tusita heaven and in the future will descend to this world to manifest his birth and his attainment of Buddhahood. When we practice this Dharma door, we will be reborn in the Western Pure Land and, once there, we will learn from Amitabha Buddha. We will also perfectly attain Buddhahood in one lifetime. We do not have to wait until another lifetime. That is why Sakyamuni Buddha introduced the Western Pure Land to us.
…We Pure Land practitioners should emulate Maitreya: whenever and wherever we meet someone, we should always put our palms together and say “Amituofo” with a smile. We should not discriminate whether what this person says is good or bad. What he says should not affect us. If this person says something good, we reply with “Amituofo.” If this person says something bad, we also reply with “Amituofo.” We turn all right and wrong, and good and bad, into the thought of Amituofo, the thought of great compassion.
~ From Ven. Master Chin Kung's 2003 lecture series on the Amitabha Sutra