The Dalai Lama talks Turkey

[Guest guest]

....no one gets to come to the Thanksgiving table looking condescendingly at

anyone else.

 

Aunt Agnes, who never seems to get her act together, and I are soul-sisters,

both dragging our baggage along the path to Nirvana. I need Aunt Agnes as much

as she needs me. An attitude adjustment makes all the difference. It is the

beginning of humility -- and not just for Aunt Agnes.

 

But what about Uncle Fred, who loves to lob potshots across the table? Isn't

returning the lob a more natural response than compassion? The Dalai Lama says,

" Yes. " Fight or flight is a basic instinct.

 

The trouble is we amp up the hostility, or get really good at nurturing it. When

that happens, not only is my view of Uncle Fred distorted but I become a hostile

person. Then I am lugging more baggage along the road to happiness. It could

take hundreds of Thanksgiving dinners to get past this bad karma.

 

Gratitude, according to the Dalai Lama, is the cure to distorted vision. It is

the attitude necessary to create nonviolence, not just between ourselves but

within ourselves.

 

What's in this for the cooks? In our house, Thanksgiving is all about abundance.

Forget the tofu-and-tomato sandwich. On this day, the food, the smells, the

colors are rich and our plates overflowing. We suffer through shlepping,

cleaning, slicing and dicing. Even buying the Thanksgiving meal at Safeway is

only a partial cure for the frenzy that can put us into overdrive for days.

Watch out Uncle Fred. What might the Dalai Lama say? How about, " Ommm... " ?

 

Seriously, compassion begins at home. Be good to yourself. Forget the

formalities.

 

His Holiness the Dalai Lama impressed his audience with his genuine love of

life. Sometimes Buddhism and Eastern philosophies are mistakenly understood as a

denial of the material world -- making our Thanksgiving excesses bad karma. Not

true, says the Dalai Lama.

 

On the contrary, his message was that life in this world is our only chance for

happiness. Happiness, after all, for ourselves and for the world, is the one

thing worth wanting.

 

This might be the true mark of holiness, and what distinguishes the Dalai Lama:

To completely inhabit this life, and to see every moment as full of promise and

hope.

He taught us the essentials of nonviolence: Compassion. Humility.

Interdependence. Gratitude. Living in the present.

 

A good recipe for a rich and peaceful Thanksgiving holiday.

 

 

~Nancy MCGaraghan

 

Hapy Thanksgiving !

 

love, Era

[Guest guest]

, " Tony OClery " <aoclery>

wrote:

 

, zen2wrk@a... wrote:

>

>

> In a message dated 11/24/2005 3:27:28 P.M. Pacific Standard Time,

> yosyflug@i... writes:

>

> Namaste,

>

> To me the DaLai Lama is a great political and religious leader,

the

> fact he eats meat precludes me from supposing he is an

enlightened

> being...Tony.

>

>

> And your comments, as usual, confirm that you are in no position

to make any

> form of rational assessment on issues of spiritual value. When

did

> absolutism ever refine the search for enlightenment? Should a

person stranded on an

> island never eat meat to survive because they have once chosen to

not eat

> meat for spiritual reasons? What if the life of a child or

children were at

> stake?

>

> We have a name for people who must be totally 100% consistent

under all

> times and conditions. Oh, and it's not " enlightened being, "

it's " foolish. "

>

> Zenbob

 

Namaste,

 

It is difficult to talk to a farmer and meat eater about this as we

have found before.

 

A person an a desert island is just a 'red herring' the

circumstances are different. Some primitive humans kill and eat meat

according to custom, to survive...I know that.

 

I have also gleaned from the Vedanta that one desire only is enough

to prevent Moksha. The Buddhi has to be purified, we are all working

on it.

 

I am not saying that meat eaters aren't on the path, what I am

saying is that it is against Ahimsa and Daya for animals, therefore

is a desire samskara to be purified.

 

The DL may or may not be more advanced than I am, but in the end we

still have to purify the Buddhi.

 

http://www.geocities.com/aoclery/AVEGETARIANandAHIMSA.htm

 

ONS...Tony.

 

--- End forwarded message ---

[Guest guest]

, " Tony OClery " <aoclery wrote:

 

, Sam <S.Pasiencier@p...> wrote:

>

>

> -

> Tony OClery

>

> Thursday, November 24, 2005 7:56 PM

> Re: The Dalai Lama talks

Turkey

>

>

> , " Era " <n0ndual@w...>

wrote:

> >

> >

> >

> > ...no one gets to come to the Thanksgiving table looking

> condescendingly at anyone else.

>

> Namaste,

>

> To me the DaLai Lama is a great political and religious leader,

the

> fact he eats meat precludes me from supposing he is an

enlightened

> being...Tony.

> Totally silly

 

As Dr. Albert Schweitzer tells us:

 

" I cannot but have reverence for all that is called life. I cannot

avoid compassion for everything that is called life. That is the

beginning of morality. Once a man has experienced it and continues

to do so he/she is ethical. He carries morality within him/her and

can never lose it, for it continues to develop within him. He who

has never experienced this has only a set of superficial principles.

 

These theories have no root in him, they do not belong to him, and

they fall off him......Reverence for life comprises the whole ethic

of love in its deepest and highest sense. It is the source of

constant renewal for the individual and for mankind.(Respect for

life is compassion, which is a prerequisite for understanding.)

 

(Schweitzer pp 116-177) (1)

 

Ghandiji said; " Cow protection is to me one of the most wonderful

phenomena in human evolution. It takes the human being beyond his

species. The cow to me means the entire subhuman world. Man through

the cow is enjoined to realise his identity with all that

lives...She is the mother to millions of Indian (and others),

mankind.

 

 

 

We should cultivate certain desirable practices. For instance we

should regulate our diet, because one's food influences one's

thoughts. Eating animal food promotes animal tendencies. Those who

take to the spiritual path should avoid as much as possible bad

practices. There is no meaning in professing to respect human values

without observing the rule that you should cause NO HARM to others

in any form whatsoever. "

 

--- End forwarded message ---