Padmasambhava 's written work, The Tibetan Book of the Dead and The Book of the Great Liberation, acts as a guide for mentally preparing yourself for death, at least in my opinion. The excerpt is about how to free your mind from the burdens and worries of life and letting the clear light shine in your mind. Padmasambhava writes that the clear light can not be found in the world around you, nor can it be found within a troubled and cluttered mind.
With death upon you, why should you worry about the stress of work, school, etc...when you know your time is limited. That is one of the main questions Padmasambhava asks of the reader. He encourages the reader to adopt the state of enlightened mind. While alive, he says the human mind is "as pure and empty as the sky." You are trying to find the light in all the wrong places. Only when your mind is in its true state can you find the clear light. Your mind loses its identity as a separate being and becomes united with all things. This is the clear light and the enlightened mind.
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Tu-Shun
According to Tu-Shun, the net of Indra is the a metaphor used to describe reality. The net of Indra is a vast net with perfectly clear jewel on each crossing point. Each jewel is able to reflect off the other jewels just a mirror would. In some way, each jewel is connected. If you observe a jewel, then you will find the reflections of all the other jewels within that jewel. Tu-Shun claims that the many jewels and their reflections is one jewel. Everything is connected.
While reading this passage, I compared the world I grew up in to Tu-Shun's net of Indra. When he said that the jewels are one, and when you see the other jewels, you are seeing the same jewel. While viewing jewels is something I never seem to do, I began to brainstorm over what would be considered "one" on Earth. The answer is life. We observe many humans, animals, and other living things daily. Although we are different species, have different skin and height, the one thing that connects us all is the fact that we are living beings. It is just like the jewels of Indra. There are many of them in different shapes and sizes, but in the end, they are just jewels. Humans, animals, etc...come in different shapes and sizes as well, but we are just living beings. So, what is so different between the net of Indra and Earth? In my opinion, nothing at all.
While reading this passage, I compared the world I grew up in to Tu-Shun's net of Indra. When he said that the jewels are one, and when you see the other jewels, you are seeing the same jewel. While viewing jewels is something I never seem to do, I began to brainstorm over what would be considered "one" on Earth. The answer is life. We observe many humans, animals, and other living things daily. Although we are different species, have different skin and height, the one thing that connects us all is the fact that we are living beings. It is just like the jewels of Indra. There are many of them in different shapes and sizes, but in the end, they are just jewels. Humans, animals, etc...come in different shapes and sizes as well, but we are just living beings. So, what is so different between the net of Indra and Earth? In my opinion, nothing at all.
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Chief Seattle
Chief Seattle's speech felt like a roller coaster of emotions. In the beginning he was praising the "Great White Chief" and his son and was grateful for the offer of land. Towards the middle of the speech, Seattle's tone changed from grateful to anger and disbelief. He said that God protected the white people and hated the Native Americans. Seattle claims that the two races could never be brothers and should be kept apart due to their differences. Then, his tone becomes sad because the white people do not honor their dead properly, and their ancestors' memories would fade away. At the very end, Seattle embraced the fact that the Native American tribes would one day become extinct, but their ghosts and spirits would roam the land and white people will never be alone.
In my opinion, Chief Seattle sounded like an elderly man who just wanted to live his life out in peace and was willing to accept the terms of the white settlers in order to avoid more bloodshed. However, during his speech, it sounded as if Seattle gained some of his young warrior past back when he expressed his anger about God and accepting the white men as his "brothers." At the end of his speech, he sounded a little threatening by saying the ghost of his people will forever walk among the living. Personally, I think his last "threat" is just desserts for the white settlers that drove them away and forever changed their lives.
In my opinion, Chief Seattle sounded like an elderly man who just wanted to live his life out in peace and was willing to accept the terms of the white settlers in order to avoid more bloodshed. However, during his speech, it sounded as if Seattle gained some of his young warrior past back when he expressed his anger about God and accepting the white men as his "brothers." At the end of his speech, he sounded a little threatening by saying the ghost of his people will forever walk among the living. Personally, I think his last "threat" is just desserts for the white settlers that drove them away and forever changed their lives.
Sa-go-ye-wat-ha
During an age where there was open hostility between the Native Americans and white settlers, Sa-go-ye-wat-ha treated the Christian minister with respect and tolerance. Sa-go-ye-wat-ha and his people listened to the minister denounce their religion and preach about how there is only way to truly worship God. Despite being treated with disrespect, Sa-go-ye-wat-ha presented the tribe's answer to the minister's words in an astounding speech about the Great Spirit, the Earth, and the white settlers. It seems that his conclusion about God/Great Spirit is that the white people and the Native Americans worship two different religions, and he and his people want to remain in the religion they was raised in.
I found it rude and distasteful on the minister's part for not treating Sa-go-ye-wat-ha's people with the respect they deserved, especially since he was a guest in their land. In my opinion, the minister was too obsessed with trying to convert and "save the sinners" to stop and questioned if his actions were appropriate. How would he have felt if the Native Americans entered his home and began preaching about how to properly worship the Great Spirit?
What I enjoyed the most about this speech is when Sa-go-ye-wat-ha asked the minister if there was only one way to worship God, then why do white men bicker and debate about which way is the right way to worship. Sa-go-ye-wat's words hit the target because the battle between different religious groups have been prevalent in both the past and present, and most likely will continue on through the future.
I found it rude and distasteful on the minister's part for not treating Sa-go-ye-wat-ha's people with the respect they deserved, especially since he was a guest in their land. In my opinion, the minister was too obsessed with trying to convert and "save the sinners" to stop and questioned if his actions were appropriate. How would he have felt if the Native Americans entered his home and began preaching about how to properly worship the Great Spirit?
What I enjoyed the most about this speech is when Sa-go-ye-wat-ha asked the minister if there was only one way to worship God, then why do white men bicker and debate about which way is the right way to worship. Sa-go-ye-wat's words hit the target because the battle between different religious groups have been prevalent in both the past and present, and most likely will continue on through the future.
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