“Everything
from the smallest kind of happiness up to Buddha-hood comes from sentient
beings. All happiness is determined by the activities you do in relation to
sentient beings.”
SEMAY GESHELOBSANG
THARCHIN;
ESSENCE OF MAHAYANA
LOJONG PRACTICE
One
of the reasons I don’t call our Higher Power, God, is based on all the old associations
most of us have with the imperialistic and paternal personality of deity that
was handed down to us from religious dogma. These reasons aren’t
because I have anything against God or God’s devotees because I am with you.
However, I observe a divinely sponsored pecking order established with the
concept that separates and cuts me off from my fellows. Even the admonition of
such precepts as the Golden Rule (as good as its intention) comes to us as a
commandment rather than simply a better way to conduct human relations. It
hints that our stewardship over nature allows us to exploit unmercifully other
sentient beings and the planet we dwell on. When I fully understand that I am
actually One with the Heart of Compassion I am less able to act against others
in a manner that isn’t kind and reasonable. I could call this Spirit, God, if
doing so didn’t alienate me from my fellows. But I prefer to sit in union with
a greater Self rather than kneel in submission to a monarch when I pray.
geo, 4,671
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