Observations

[diminution]

I am now two thirds of the way through Becoming Enlightened by the Dalai Lama.

In short, he has taken 2,600 years of documents, read most of them, meditated more than most people, is the Buddha incarnate and has condensed all of these teachings and experience into 250 pages.

My short interpretation is this:

The first step is making the choice

Comments

[artofange]

I'm not going to lie: I really sincerely hope that he is wrong on at least some things.

Thinking about murdering my coworkers is all that gets me through some days.

Of course I'm filled with happy thoughts and do loads of nice things for others (and am learning how to do them for myself, too), but those karmic vacuums? It helps me to envision them slipping in the bathtub and impaling themselves on the hot water tap.

[diminution]

There will always be problems. Unfortunately, the only solution proposed for this kind of dilemma is "seek to be free of the cycle of death and rebirth" which might be hard to apply at work. He says the misery you describe should be motivation to seek the path of personal improvement so that you can, eventually, be free of the cycle

[diminution]

I thought about it a bit and came up with the more practical real answer. When people bug you it shows an area that you need to work on. People act according to their nature and how others act is beyond your control. How you react is your choice.

Irritants come up in groups, like everyone checking out at the supermarket at the same time. Once you learn to deal with it and not let it bother you it will never bother you again.

I think that is the real middle ground and a bit less drastic than opting out of the natural cycles of things.

[artofange]

I just can't think that way-- it seems like the easy way out. If someone is being a douche to other people, they can't be allowed to continue, because very few people can actually be unaffected by the bullshit around them