VoyForums
[ Show ]
Support VoyForums
[ Shrink ]
VoyForums Announcement: Programming and providing support for this service has been a labor of love since 1997. We are one of the few services online who values our users' privacy, and have never sold your information. We have even fought hard to defend your privacy in legal cases; however, we've done it with almost no financial support -- paying out of pocket to continue providing the service. Due to the issues imposed on us by advertisers, we also stopped hosting most ads on the forums many years ago. We hope you appreciate our efforts.

Show your support by donating any amount. (Note: We are still technically a for-profit company, so your contribution is not tax-deductible.) PayPal Acct: Feedback:

Donate to VoyForums (PayPal):

[ Login ] [ Main index ] [ Post a new message ] [ Search | Check update time | Archives: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, [9], 10 ]

[ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ]

Date Posted: 05:28:15 09/21/01 Fri
Author: Anonymous
Subject: this is something i admire and strive towards though am still far from succeeding. is it so bad?


My Religion is kindness.
----- The Dali Lama

Non-Harming,-- Ahimsa
A friend came back after several years in Nepal and India in
1973 and said of himself, "If I can't do anything useful, at least I would like to do as little harm as possible."
I guess you can bring back all sorts of communicable things
from distant parts if you're not careful.  I was infected with the idea of ahimsa right then and there in my living room, and I have never forgotten the moment it happened. I had heard it before.

The attitude of non-harming lies at the heart of yoga practice and of the Hippocratic Oath. It was the underlying principle of Gandhi's revolution  and of his personal meditation practice.  But there was something about he sincerity with which my friend made his comment, coupled with he incongruity of the person I thought I knew saying it, that impressed me.  It stuck me as a good way to relate to the world and to oneself.  Why not try to live so as to cause as little damage and suffering as possible?  

If we lived that way, we wouldn't have the insane levels of
violence that dominate our lives and our thinking today. And we would be more generous toward ourselves as well, on the
meditation cushion and off it.  

Like any other view, non-harming may be a terrific principle, but it's the living of it that counts. You can start practicing ahimsa's gentleness on yourself and in your life with others in any moment.

Do you sometimes find that you are hard on yourself and put
yourself down?  Remember ahimsa in that moment.  Se it and let it go.  

Do you talk about others behind their backs?  Ahimsa.

Do you push yourself beyond your limits with no regard for
your body and your well being?  Ahimsa.

Do you cause other people pain or grief?  Ahimsa.  It is easy to relate with ahimsa to someone who doesn't threaten you. The test is in how you will relate to a person or situation when you do feel threatened.

The willingness to harm or hurt comes ultimately our of fear.

Non-harming requires that you see your own fears and that you understand them and own them.  Owning them means taking
responsibility for them.  Taking responsibility means not letting fear completely dictate your vision or your view. ONly mindfulness of our own clinging and rejecting, and a willingness to grapple with these mind states, however painful the encounter, can free us from the circle of suffering.  Without a daily embodiment in practice, lofty ideals tend to succumb to self-interest.

------Jon Kabat-Zinn

Wherever You Go There You Are

[ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ]
Forum timezone: GMT-5
VF Version: 3.00b, ConfDB:
Before posting please read our privacy policy.
VoyForums(tm) is a Free Service from Voyager Info-Systems.
Copyright © 1998-2019 Voyager Info-Systems. All Rights Reserved.