This is to announce that I have moved my blog into my own domain,

 http://www.thurein-universe.com/

due to so many reasons. :)

Please continue your support . Thanks.


I haven’t updated about this spiritual series for 2 years, and I do have a lot to say, and seems like every year has its special moment, but none will catch up this 2014 ever. Yes, my baby girl has arrived beautifully.

Without further ado (time is really limited right now, being a father with a whole lot more to do), I would like to open this read with Preface by Dalai Lama from the book “The Conscious Parent”.

“Although I am 75 years old, I still remember my mother’s spontaneous love and unselfish affection. Thinking about it today still gives me a sense of peace and inner calm. In our modern world one of the challenges we face is how to retain an appreciation of that kind of unselfish giving throughout our lives. When we grow up, our misguided intelligence tends to make us short-sighted, giving rise to fear, aggression, jealously, anger and frustration, which diminish our potential.”

I quoted Misguided Intelligence, how can intelligence can be misguided, how can human knowledge, experience can be misguided in this advanced modern age.

Here is the definition of intelligence from Wikipedia, Intelligence has been defined in many different ways such as in terms of one's capacity for logic, abstract thought, understanding, self-awareness, communication, learning, emotional knowledge, memory, planning, creativity and problem solving. It can also be more generally described as the ability to perceive and/or retain knowledge or information and apply it to itself or other instances of knowledge or information creating referable understanding models of any size, density, or complexity, due to any conscious or subconscious imposed will or instruction to do so.

Perfecto!

Human, each of us has our own level of intelligence with relate to our life experience, information created around us based on how our conscious or subconscious reflect or imposed to those surroundings.But, let me pause here and think about it, who in the world firstly show or teach us how to accumulate intelligence during our life time, in other words, how to perceive, react things around us.

Parents!

Just a little bit more, who will be Parents?
I just heard the final lines from the poem of William Wordsword, My Heart Leaps Up

A rainbow in the sky.
So was it when my life began;
So is it now I am a man;
So be it when I grow old,Or let me die!
The Child is father of the Man;
And I could wish my days to be
Bound each to each by natural piety.

My point is that each of us are destined to be a Better Parent and it is a very good chance that life gives us to become Children first and then be a Parent. Imagine life with, be a Parent first and then children later, it would be nightmare, I suppose.

So, here we go, almost reaching to my point, how do we be a better parent than our parents based on our childhood  or based on our considerable amount of accumulated intelligence during our life time (for me is 33 years of intelligence).

But let me put terms and conditions first, before I further drifted to what I want to reach. When I say Better Parent, does not mean, my parents or our parents are at worst in disgrace.

NO, Not at all, I am not who I am without my parents, I will not be who I am today without my parents guidance. I am just saying that, as of now of who I am because of my parent, how I can make use of my childhood experience to become more efficient, more conscious and more meaningful to my kids. Period.And, one more thing, do not jump to conclusion that you will never be parent since you planned to be Single and stop reading, No, huh, No freaking way. One way or the other you will portray as Parent to others (consciously or unconsciously) because you have come through childhood experience which is already build up or to be Parent one way or the other. That is why we all have our thoughts about if I were a parent, I won’t do like this, like that, etc., especially during our teenage years. So be aware Single. (I like the tone of it)

So talking about Better Parent, we need first to know ourselves, because in order to reach to higher degree of superlatives, you need know basic degree of superlatives, your parent and yourself. Since most of us (including myself), have a view of our parent parenting from receiving end, as a child perspective, it is honest to say that we need to know ourselves first and foremost. And I dare to say one more step, we need to connect with ourselves first. Because in order to connect with your children, you need to connect with yourself first.

By saying connection, do you know the spiritual reason we birth our children?

to be continued in PART II
(1) Samasara


The cycle of life and death

(2) Karma


Action or work 

Seed in the mind come to fruition either in this life or subsequent rebirth


(3) Rebirth


The Continuation of a dynamic , ever changing process of "dependent arising " determined by the laws of cause and effect rather than that of one being, transmigrating or incarnating from one  existence to the next


(4) Four Nobel Truth 


the truth of dukkha 

the truth of origin of dukkha

the truth of the cessation of dukkha

the truth of the path leading to the cessation of dukkha


(5) Nobel Eight Fold Path


Right View

Viewing Reality as it Is, not just as appear to be

Right Intention

Intention of renunciation, freedom and harmlessness

Right speech

speaking in a truthful and non-hurtful way

Right action

Acting in a non-hurtful way

Right Livelihood

A non-harmful livelihood

Right effort

Making an effort to improve

Right mindfulness

Awareness to see things for what they are with the Consciousness; being aware of the present reality within oneself without any craving or aversion

Right Concentration

Correct meditation or concentration


(6) Middle Way


the practice of non-extremism ; A path of moderation away from the extreme of self-indulgence and self-mortification; Another term for Emptiness


(7) Nature of Existence


There are three masks of Existence, impermance, suffering and not-self 


Impermance (anicca) 


All things and experiences are inconstant, unsteady, and impermanent. Since nothing lasts, there is no inherentor fixed nature to any object or experience 

Because things are impermanent attachment to them is futile and leads to suffering


Suffering (dukkha)


Although the term is often translated as "suffering" its philosophical meaning is more "disquietude" as in condition of being disturbed. As such, suffering is too narrow a translation with negative emotional connotations that can give the impression that Buddhism is pessimistic, but Buddhism seeks to be neither pessimistic nor optimistic but realistic.


Not-self


No phenomenon is really "I" or "mine"; Her concepts are in fact constructed by mind. Buddha reject both metaphysics assertions "I have self" and "I have no self".


(8) Emptiness


the most conflict interpretation ever

three main characteristics; no-self , no-conception and spaciousness.

Example with three elements, In every situation, there will always be 3 elements

(1) You, yourself and your views  or thoughts

(2) another person, and his or her views or thoughts

(3) the entire event itself


In the event of boss yelling at you;


"No-self" means that your boss doesn't have any self-nature, no nature of his own; no nature coming from his own side, no nature that he was born with of being a screaming unpleasant person. If he did have any nature like this his wife would find him unpleasant but she doesn't. So "no-self" means that whatever you see in him is coming from you not form him. It doesn't mean he doesn't exist somehow or that it would somehow be useful to pretend he's not quite there.


the "No-Conception" part mean that you stop thinking about him the wrong way; stop conceiving

of him as being something that is bad from his own side and start thinking him as an empty screen; one that is filled with a hit movie for his wife and one that is a horror movie for you. And the projector is of course your own mind driven  by the electricity called "imprints from what you have done same thing to others in the past. " Again the point is not at all that it would be any help not to think anything, not to judge anything as being good or bad, not to attach to any of your feeling or emotion; Remember the entire event and how you see yourself and

others, how your boss see to you and others ( three elements) is certainly real. Real people will get hurt, real company will suffer, real boss will blow your next holiday bonus, But not for the reason you used to think caused them. It is all coming from things you did before.


You will be spacious if you follow above two. when you are spacious instead of fear or goad at those moments, you have gratitude. You appreciate the given moment without needing to hold or control indefinitely. You relate to these moments with trust

instead of fear, with openness instead of greed, with letting go instead of holding.


(9) Three Jewels


the Buddha

the Dharma

the Sangha


(10) Buddhist ethics


1. To refrain from taking life

2. To refrain from taking that is not given

3. To refrain from sensual or sexual misconduct

4. To refrain from lying

5. To refrain from intoxicants 

6. To refrain from eating at the wrong time

7. To refrain from dancing, playing music, wearing jewlery, attending shows and performance

8. To refrain from the use of garlands, perfumes, ointments and from things that tend to beautify and adorn

9. To refrain from using high or luxurious seats or bedding

10. To refrain from accepting gold and silver and money