Wednesday, September 28, 2005
Think on it...
The Buddhist concept of disease is a multi-tiered system of causes. The following analogy will explain: A man drinks a bottle of vodka, steps out of the pub, and blindly walks into the road, where he is at once knocked down and killed by an oncoming bus. What was the cause of the man's death?
The apparent cause was being knocked down by a bus-analogous to dying of lung cancer. A deeper cause was being drunk - analogous to the cancer being caused by smoking. But why was he drunk? Because he was unhappy - analogous to the actual cause originating in the mind. And why was he unhappy? Because his wife had left him - analogous to the law of cause and effect (karma).
Hence Buddhists would ultimately say that the lung cancer was created by negative karma: the negative energy created in dependence upon a negative thought or its consequent actions (in this life or a past life), and therefore ultimately to remove somebody's predisposition to disease one would need to remove the negative karma.
Reflect upon your present blessings, of which every man has many—not on your past misfortunes, of which all men have some.
If you press me to say why I loved him, I can say no more than because he was he, and I was I.
Courtesy is simply doing unto others what you would like them to do unto you.
He who has health has hope; and he who has hope, has everything.
¶ 9/28/2005 07:40:00 AM
The apparent cause was being knocked down by a bus-analogous to dying of lung cancer. A deeper cause was being drunk - analogous to the cancer being caused by smoking. But why was he drunk? Because he was unhappy - analogous to the actual cause originating in the mind. And why was he unhappy? Because his wife had left him - analogous to the law of cause and effect (karma).
Hence Buddhists would ultimately say that the lung cancer was created by negative karma: the negative energy created in dependence upon a negative thought or its consequent actions (in this life or a past life), and therefore ultimately to remove somebody's predisposition to disease one would need to remove the negative karma.
Reflect upon your present blessings, of which every man has many—not on your past misfortunes, of which all men have some.
- Charles Dickens (1812-1870) English Novelist
If you press me to say why I loved him, I can say no more than because he was he, and I was I.
- Michel de Montaigne
Courtesy is simply doing unto others what you would like them to do unto you.
- Anonymous
He who has health has hope; and he who has hope, has everything.
- Arabian Proverb
¶ 9/28/2005 07:40:00 AM
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