drcone

drcone

Friday, June 11, 2010

The Sixteenfold Compassion

Over 2500 years ago, Buddha saw the destructive effects of negative thinking and as a result he vividly described what he saw as the self-induced suffering of humankind in his immortal Sixteenfold Compassion:

My children,

The Enlightened One, because he saw Mankind drowning in the Great Sea of Birth, Death and Sorrow, and longed to save them,
For this he was moved to compassion.
Because he saw the men of the world straying in palse paths, and none to guide them,
For this he was moved to compassion.
Because he saw that they lay wallowing in the mire of the Five Lusts, in dissolute abandonment,
For this he was moved to compassion.
Because he saw them still fettered to their wealth and their possessions, knowing not how to cast them aside,
For this he was moved to compassion.
Because he saw them doing evil(deviation from the Law) with hand, heart, and tongue, and may times receiving the bitter fruits of sin (deviation from the Law), yet ever yielding to their desires,
For this he was moved to compassion.
Because he saw that they slaked the thirst of the Five Lusts as it were, with brackish water,
For this he was moved to compassion.
Becaused he saw that though they longed for happiness, they made for themselves no karma of happiness; and though they hated pain, yet willingly made for themselves a karma of pain: and though they coveted the joys of heaven, would not follow his commandments on earth,
For this he was moved to compassion.

(the insertion of "deviation from the law" is mine) Sin means to miss the mark - an archery term.

The balance to follow-keep watching and reading.

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