May All Be Free From Suffering And Close To Happiness

One thing you can say for sure is that there is much suffering throughout the human family. 

A lot of the suffering is completely fabricated, and much is perpetrated by humans on humans.

There is also much suffering perpetrated by humans on non-human animals.

What we need is a concentrated effort to end the suffering that we make for ourselves and other living things. 

It begins with a mindset that is conducive to believing that suffering can be ended, and it can, according to many traditions.

A prayer for the freedom from suffering for all beings is a good place to start toward developing this mindset.

“For the power and the truth of this practice, may all sentient beings be free of suffering and the causes of suffering. 

May all sentient beings be close to happiness and the causes of happiness.”

This is the traditional formula used for the last ten centuries by the practitioners of the the Dzogchen Tibetan Buddhist school to dedicate their efforts – big or small – to the greater well being of all living things. 

I am imagining a world where the human family makes the greater well being of ALL living things its major priority in everything it does.

Compared to today, it would be an unrecognizably peaceful and beautiful place to live.

In a free society such as ours, some are guilty. But all are responsible. Indifference to evil is worse than the evil itself. 

We can make our lives matter if we act with compassion and loving kindness toward all living things all the time.

Beauty In - Beauty Out

Image: Timothy Banks

What goes into the simple living pipeline?

Beauty.

What comes out at the end of the simple living pipeline?

Beauty.

Beauty in - beauty out.

Walking In Beauty - Navajo Prayer

 

Today I will walk out, today everything negative will leave me. 

I will be as I was before, I will have a cool breeze over my body. 

I will have a light body, I will be happy forever, nothing will hinder me. 

I walk with beauty before me. I walk with beauty behind me. 

I walk with beauty below me. I walk with beauty above me. 

I walk with beauty around me.

 

My words will be beautiful. 

In beauty all day long may I walk.

May we live simply and walk in beauty today.

 

Simple Solution For The Promotion Of Sanity

Click on image to make larger. Or get your glasses.

It has been a weird year that has become weirder with each passing day. It looks like the feel of the 2020s is going to be insanity - the decade we finally lost our collective minds.

If insanity is the problem, a good dose of sanity is the solution. 

Where does one find sanity these days? Luckily, lots of places (especially in nature, my favourite), and I have been drawing on them more since the Insane Era began.

Here is one of them where I establish right at home, a small space in which to feel focused, centred, and sane. 

It is simple.

I put on Suburbs of Goa, an internet radio station that plays "Desi-influenced Asian world beats and beyond" with no commercials or interruptions. 

Then I lay out my yoga mat in the corner of our living room.

For half an hour I do Sun Salutations. Not as a warm up for yoga, but as the main event. 

I said it was simple, and it is, but even salutations can be challenging if you are not familiar with them. There are many excellent videos on the web to help you perfect your technique.

If I really exert my self and/or need an extra dose of sanity I do a Corpse pose at the end for a few more meditative minutes.

I repeat this every day. 

Try it yourself. After 30 days you will have a new stress busting, sanity promoting habit. 

Just because the Era is insane doesn't mean you have to feel like you are, too.