For those of us, who are angry and struggling with a response to hate

[rumpel]

In Buddhist philosophy, people are encouraged to develop compassion. Transform the many afflictive emotions such as arrogance, jealousy, desire, lust, close-mindedness, hate and anger, and many others.

I did struggle with the thought of having to chant, pray, wish, whatever you want to call it, for someone who has or is doing harm to you, and people or other living beings you hold dear.

I did however find this thought from The Holiness Dalai Lama which made sense to me :

"If in a competitive society you are sincere and honest, in some circumstances people may take advantage of you. If you let someone do so, he or she will be engaging in an unsuitable action and accumulating bad karma that will harm the person in the future.
Thus it is permissible, with an altruistic motivation, to take counteraction in order to prevent the other person from having to undergo the effects of this wrong action."

His Holiness The Dalai Lama, "The Path To Tranquility"

To all those, who took advantage of Andy's illness to discredit him and disrupt DU, I chant for your happiness, which includes freeing yourselves from the affliction of close-mindedness and thus accumulating bad karma.

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

1. Thanks, but the fundamentalists have really appealed to me on this one

So I'm out to smite my enemies :evilgrin:

(not really...thanks for the thoughtful, well meaning post. :thumbsup:

[rumpel]

3. You are welcome, I am struggling with this every day, as I could kick so

many butts...

To say the least..

:evilgrin:

[chalky]

2. I strive to be that enlightened. For now I just hope that Karma they've

accumulated comes back to bite them in the ass.

[rumpel]

4. Yes, I think that is what happens when we wish them well....

:)

[lynettebro440]

5. I too have studied Budhism

And I do believe the Karma will catch up to them. And the other great thing is that they can't take mine away from me. They preach christianity as if it is an excuse for abuse. But then, hasn't it always been anyways. I grew up Catholic in the 60's, lots of abuse. It is one of the reasons I turned to Budhism, they don't worship outside of themselves, it is an internal religion. This administration is already crumbling, just sit back and watch, these people will fall....

[lavenderdiva]

6. Welcome to DU, lynettebro440!

:hi:

[lynettebro440]

7. Thanks

I love this place. It gives me an intelligent release. Have sat on the outside reading for many months. I finally am speaking.

[chalky]

11. Hello lynette!

Glad to see your posts! :hi:

[Bluerthanblue]

8. it's a question of

what one truly desires in their OWN heart. If someone chooses to throw a cloth soaked in acid at me, i can grasp hold of it, and then throw it back at them, but then, not only am i wounded by the initial hurt, my hands are now burned because i CHOSE to grasp hold of something harmful, and USE it to harm back.
i could let the cloth fall upon the ground, and neutralize it, then tend to my wounds, and offer soothing to the person who did the wounding initially- if they reject me, then it is their sad loss, if they have been wounding people because they have known nothing else, they they have a chance to learn. If they have known better, but simply don't care, then at least they will not make ME into THEM.

Maybe that is 'Karma'-- if we LET people hurt us without speaking out that is wrong,- because it gives 'tacit' approval to their actions, and eventually they will destroy themselves, along with many others. But if we respond 'in kind' then they have changed US into 'them'- and we have 'lost ourselves'.

kindness in the face of evil, is not easy, but it is, (from my own personal experience, and i've had my 'fair share') SO rewarding, even when it appears to have made little or NO difference. i know, when i speak gently or kindly in the face of hatred and evil, that i have done what is RIGHT and GOOD and in doing that, i have weakened the 'power' that sought to own me.

To those who sought to discredit Andy, i feel sad for you, because you must be feeling (even if you deny and pretend not to, deep down it is there) rather ...guilty...foolish... and regretful.

But you have a chance to avoid making the same 'bad' decision next time, and you can use this lesson to help you not have cause to 'regret' your future thoughts and actions.

If you 'believe the best' in and for people, and treat them with kindness, generosity, love and respect, you may sometimes find that they aren't what you 'wish' they were, but you will still know that you are and have been 'true' to that which yourself- and YOU are the only person that you ever have 'real' control of, and that is enough of a challenge in and of itself.

If those willing to hate and kill to 'get their way' truly do succeed, it will be the end of humanity- because in the end, 'my way' leaves me standing alone on an earth covered with death, and endless stretches of empty highways.

Hate breeds hate - Love breeds love - abort hatred, nurture love, and remember, even if the crop looks scraggly, the harvest will be abundantly good, and life giving.

Andy's life enriched this world- even in his illness, especially in his illness, he brought peoples 'essencees' to the surface, and when we 'look' at who we really are, we can build on the 'good' and have a chance to recognize and CHANGE the bad- That would be a wonderful legacy. For all of us- from all of us- "Care of our friend"


(i'll shut up now) i believed, and my disapointment lies only in the reality that someone special and good, is no longer struggling physically beside us in this hard world- that makes the fight no less important, but perhaps all the more urgent.

blu

[housewolf]

9. Thank you so much for this...

You have found the words I have been searching for for the last 36 hours. Thank you.

[rumpel]

10. Yes, thank you. Andy's fight was compassion itself, and we all know he

wanted to continue, not for himself but for All, especialy the ones whose voices are not heard...