#bodhipaksa

[deepinsamsara]

"If you think about it, it’s weird. If you can’t even control your own mind, then who is controlling it? If you don’t decide to get distracted, then who does? If you think you have a “self” that owns the body and mind, then what is it, exactly? Why does it have so little influence?" -Bodhipaksa

[deepinsamsara]

"I think most of us underestimate our own power and influence. The emotional tone of our words and even the body language that expresses our unspoken thoughts has an effect on those around us. One large-scale study conducted over decades showed that we affect not just our friends, but the friends of the friends of our friends, as our emotional effect ripples into the world. If we cultivate kindness, that potentially affects a huge number of people in a measurable way. Imagine if we all took that seriously?" - Bodhipaksa

[deepinsamsara]

[deepinsamsara]

[deepinsamsara]

Buddhism is not principally a system of belief, but of practice; it's not about what you believe, but about what you do. In Buddhist psychology the word "faith" represents trust or confidence based on experience. Faith is like following someone's instructions on how to get from point A to point B in an unfamiliar place; once you've discovered for yourself that the first few directions correspond to reality, you can begin to trust your guide. This trust is saddha - faith.

Bodhipaksa (I Can’t Believe It’s Not Buddha!)

[deepinsamsara]

Uncomfortable feelings could be seen, perhaps, as the reptilian and limbic brains asking for help. Our compassion is when the neocortex provides that help. When the neocortex hasn’t learned how to be a source of emotional support, the limbic brain is often chronically insecure or afraid—continually on the lookout for potential threats. It’s as if it thinks it’s on its own, which, if it doesn’t have a source of love, support, and encouragement, is true. So the most recently evolved parts of us need to learn how to provide support and reassurance for the more ancient, emotional, and insecure parts of the brain.

Bodhipaksa (This Difficult Thing of Being Human)

[deepinsamsara]

[i8i8t]

I Can't Believe It's Not Buddha!

Did the Buddha actually say “all worldlings are mad”, “all descriptions of reality are temporary hypotheses” or “all things are perfect exactly as they are”? These are just some of the sayings that Bodhipaksa, author of Vegetarianism: A Buddhist View and of the Wildmind Buddhist Meditation site, ...