Guest guest Posted August 21, 2002 Report Share Posted August 21, 2002 , "texasbg2000" <Bigbobgraham@a...> wrote: > > Dear Shawn: > > This is an example of not being able to voice an opinion about a > relationship without being opposed by a statement of absolutism. > > Noticing relationships between people with different views is a > valuable asset in communication. Yeah:-) seems like an example of conduct in the view. "As It Is: Vol. II" by Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche Student: It seems that hope & fear are unavoidable for practitioners. Those of us on the path fear we waste a lot of time; we hope to spend it wisely & attain accomplishment. On the other hand, we are taught that when sustaining the view, hope & fear ruins it. How do we overcome this hope & fear? Rinpoche: There are two aspects here, the view & the conduct. You need to distinguish between them. These are two different aspects which you cannot - & should not - simply fuse into one. If you lose the view in the conduct, it means you are always accepting & rejecting. You may incessantly entertain thoughts of something that needs to be attained & of something that needs to be left behind. That is called losing the view in the conduct. On the other hand, if you lose the conduct in the view, you think that there is nothing to accept or reject - that whatever you do doesn't matter, & that there is no good & evil. That is an even greater mistake. One's behaviour has to be in harmony with worldly values as well. However, Dharma mixed with worldly work is not the perfect Dharma, I'm sorry to say. Dharma & worldly aims are a contradiction, so keep those two things separate & distinct in your mind. There is always a little unwholesomeness involved in worldly work. Evil deeds are an obstacle for the spiritual path. To practice Dharma, you need to give up evil deeds. Our body & speech are the servants of the mind that is the maker of these deeds. Whenever the mind is caught up in the three poisons, our actions are evil deeds. We don't need to burden ourselves by creating negative deeds. The view should be free of the three poisons. In the mind of an ordinary person, there is nothing but the three poisons - there is only hope & fear. It's impossible to do worldly activities without hope & fear. You cannot do anything in this life without accepting or rejecting. Trying to go beyond this becomes a huge problem. So you cannot practice the Dharma without hope & fear, without accepting & rejecting. This doesn't mean that one has to be like an ordinary person whose view is only the three poisons which, by the way, is the definition of an ordinary person, & whose behaviour is to carry out the three poisons. That is not what is meant. The mind stream of an ordinary person is called 'black diffusion', which means there is nothing other than an unbroken, incessant flow of negative thought patterns, throughout day & night. For ordinary people, the view is missing. In terms of the view, there is nothing to accept or reject. However, if one doesn't accept what is good & reject evil - if one doesn't accept the Dharma or reject mundane aims - one simply goes on living a worldly life. In short, you need to distinguish between view & conduct. The view is free from hope & fear. The conduct is with hope & fear. When it comes to training in the view itself, then it's definitely true that hope & fear, accepting & rejecting, need to be left behind. There is no equality until one leaves behind the impulse to accept & reject. These are simply two ways of grasping, & they are both conceptual thoughts. To act, to carry out the conduct, you must accept & reject; there is no other way. We need to practice the Dharma, & we don't need to create evil deeds, although these often occur automatically. Ordinary people are under the influence of thinking. The root of negative deeds is thinking, thought. The thoughts of a sentient being are not spiritual; they are only anger, desire & close mindedness. They are either attracted towards an object by desire, set against it through aggression, or ignorant of it in terms of dullness. In other words, there is nothing but the three poisons. You need to give up negative actions. You need to apply the Dharma. So, it is impossible to practice the Dharma in one's life without hope & fear, without accepting & rejecting. It is only in terms of the view, that there is nothing to accept or reject through hope or fear. Both hope & fear are thoughts. The view is free of these, but the conduct is not. The whole purpose of the four mind changings, for instance, is to accept & reject, & that is based on hope & fear. There is nothing wrong with that. It is in the view that nothing should be accepted or rejected .. To lose the conduct in the view means that the view, which is emptiness, is superimposed upon all one's actions. Ome might say "Good is empty, evil is also empty, everything is emptiness, so what does it matter." Then one becomes uncaring & frivolous & doesn't discriminate between help & harm, good & evil. That is losing the conduct in the view. Please be careful to avoid this mistake! The other extreme is to lost the view in the conduct, to only think in terms of good & evil, what is virtuous & unvirtuous .. It is through the view that one is liberated. If you lose the view in the conduct, you will never have the opportunity to be free .. Guru Rinpoche .. said .. "Though the view should be as vast as the sky, keep your conduct as fine as barley flour." Don't confuse one with the other. When training in the view, you can be as unbiased, as impartial, as vast, immense, & unlimited as the sky. Your behaviour, on the other hand, should be as careful as possible in discriminating what is beneficial or harmful, what is good or evil. One can combine the view & conduct, but don't mix them or lose one in the other. That is very important. 'View like the sky' means that nothing is held onto in any way whatsoever. You are not stuck anywhere at all. In other words, there is no discrimination as to what to accept & what to reject; no line is drawn separating one thing from another. 'Conduct as fine as barley flour' means that there is good & evil, & one needs to differentiate between the two. Give up negative deeds; practice the Dharma. In your behaviour, in your conduct, it is necessary to accept & reject." Sharing a quote, Col Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted August 21, 2002 Report Share Posted August 21, 2002 Thanks collette. That's a really good quote. Bobby G. , "pearlwhiterainbow" <white_rainbow@h...> wrote: > , "texasbg2000" <Bigbobgraham@a...> wrote: > > > > > Dear Shawn: > > > > This is an example of not being able to voice an opinion about a > > relationship without being opposed by a statement of absolutism. > > > > Noticing relationships between people with different views is a > > valuable asset in communication. > > Yeah:-) seems like an example of conduct in the view. > > > "As It Is: Vol. II" by Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche > > Student: It seems that hope & fear are unavoidable for practitioners. > Those of us on the path fear we waste a lot of time; we hope to spend > it wisely & attain accomplishment. On the other hand, we are taught > that when sustaining the view, hope & fear ruins it. How do we > overcome this hope & fear? > > Rinpoche: There are two aspects here, the view & the conduct. You > need to distinguish between them. These are two different aspects > which you cannot - & should not - simply fuse into one. > > If you lose the view in the conduct, it means you are always > accepting & rejecting. You may incessantly entertain thoughts of > something that needs to be attained & of something that needs to be > left behind. That is called losing the view in the conduct. > > On the other hand, if you lose the conduct in the view, you think > that there is nothing to accept or reject - that whatever you do > doesn't matter, & that there is no good & evil. That is an even > greater mistake. > > One's behaviour has to be in harmony with worldly values as well. > However, Dharma mixed with worldly work is not the perfect Dharma, > I'm sorry to say. Dharma & worldly aims are a contradiction, so keep > those two things separate & distinct in your mind. There is always a > little unwholesomeness involved in worldly work. Evil deeds are an > obstacle for the spiritual path. To practice Dharma, you need to give > up evil deeds. Our body & speech are the servants of the mind that is > the maker of these deeds. Whenever the mind is caught up in the three > poisons, our actions are evil deeds. We don't need to burden > ourselves by creating negative deeds. > > The view should be free of the three poisons. In the mind of an > ordinary person, there is nothing but the three poisons - there is > only hope & fear. It's impossible to do worldly activities without > hope & fear. You cannot do anything in this life without accepting or > rejecting. Trying to go beyond this becomes a huge problem. So you > cannot practice the Dharma without hope & fear, without accepting & > rejecting. > > This doesn't mean that one has to be like an ordinary person whose > view is only the three poisons which, by the way, is the definition > of an ordinary person, & whose behaviour is to carry out the three > poisons. That is not what is meant. The mind stream of an ordinary > person is called 'black diffusion', which means there is nothing > other than an unbroken, incessant flow of negative thought patterns, > throughout day & night. > > For ordinary people, the view is missing. In terms of the view, there > is nothing to accept or reject. However, if one doesn't accept what > is good & reject evil - if one doesn't accept the Dharma or reject > mundane aims - one simply goes on living a worldly life. In short, > you need to distinguish between view & conduct. The view is free from > hope & fear. The conduct is with hope & fear. > > When it comes to training in the view itself, then it's definitely > true that hope & fear, accepting & rejecting, need to be left behind. > There is no equality until one leaves behind the impulse to accept & > reject. These are simply two ways of grasping, & they are both > conceptual thoughts. To act, to carry out the conduct, you must > accept & reject; there is no other way. We need to practice the > Dharma, & we don't need to create evil deeds, although these often > occur automatically. > > Ordinary people are under the influence of thinking. The root of > negative deeds is thinking, thought. The thoughts of a sentient being > are not spiritual; they are only anger, desire & close mindedness. > They are either attracted towards an object by desire, set against it > through aggression, or ignorant of it in terms of dullness. In other > words, there is nothing but the three poisons. > > You need to give up negative actions. You need to apply the Dharma. > So, it is impossible to practice the Dharma in one's life without > hope & fear, without accepting & rejecting. It is only in terms of > the view, that there is nothing to accept or reject through hope or > fear. Both hope & fear are thoughts. The view is free of these, but > the conduct is not. > > The whole purpose of the four mind changings, for instance, is to > accept & reject, & that is based on hope & fear. There is nothing > wrong with that. It is in the view that nothing should be accepted or > rejected .. > > To lose the conduct in the view means that the view, which is > emptiness, is superimposed upon all one's actions. Ome might > say "Good is empty, evil is also empty, everything is emptiness, so > what does it matter." Then one becomes uncaring & frivolous & doesn't > discriminate between help & harm, good & evil. That is losing the > conduct in the view. Please be careful to avoid this mistake! > > The other extreme is to lost the view in the conduct, to only think > in terms of good & evil, what is virtuous & unvirtuous .. > > It is through the view that one is liberated. If you lose the view in > the conduct, you will never have the opportunity to be free .. > > Guru Rinpoche .. said .. "Though the view should be as vast as the > sky, keep your conduct as fine as barley flour." Don't confuse one > with the other. When training in the view, you can be as unbiased, as > impartial, as vast, immense, & unlimited as the sky. Your behaviour, > on the other hand, should be as careful as possible in discriminating > what is beneficial or harmful, what is good or evil. One can combine > the view & conduct, but don't mix them or lose one in the other. That > is very important. > > 'View like the sky' means that nothing is held onto in any way > whatsoever. You are not stuck anywhere at all. In other words, there > is no discrimination as to what to accept & what to reject; no line > is drawn separating one thing from another. 'Conduct as fine as > barley flour' means that there is good & evil, & one needs to > differentiate between the two. Give up negative deeds; practice the > Dharma. In your behaviour, in your conduct, it is necessary to accept > & reject." > > Sharing a quote, > > Col Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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