Lacking Genuine Understanding
Lacking genuine happiness

Having received Dharma instruction on emptiness (that nothing has any reality of its own) and then acting without virtue, we become like demons contaminating everyone and everything with whom we come into contact.

Partial understanding of teachings has entered society like a virus, perverting and confusing truth for profit or to acquire self esteem in order to be admired. We can see this in all walks of life – wolves in sheeps’ clothing. Who, in fact, are we trying to impress? Art, music, education, health, law, entertainment, media and religion have turned spiritual beings into ‘pleasant’ slaves. We have lost our way. When we understand this and realise we are, in reality, suffering, the way will be found.

What is meant by acting with virtue?
Virtue: Behaviour showing high moral standards.

From a relative point of view, this is not easy to maintain as we have to keep applying antidotes to maintain our fragile status, or acquire more rules, weighing us down.

From an absolute point of view, knowing that everything and everyone is pure awareness temporarily cloaked in defilements, empathy, compassion and love naturally arise. By cutting through our own fixations and resting in spontaneous presence, everything is fresh and uncontaminated. Of course, we fall into demonic ways (forgetting our true nature) now and again, and again… ‘-) but there are plenty of reminders because the inner teacher recognises everything and everyone as the symbolic teacher, as having the nature of emptiness. We therefore let go of any clinging to our concepts.

From an absolute view point, virtue is living within enlightened activities: in Buddhism there are four enlightened activities of pacifying, enriching, magnetising and destroying (see Contents of this blog for further details). In the west, we have become accustomed to believe that virtue is something holy, holy, holy and therefore unattainable: this gives rise to guilt, anger, jealousy, pride, anxiety – and screws with our head. The antithesis of our true nature!

Genuine understanding
Genuine happiness
Is letting go

We can try to make things more and more beautiful,
but beauty is in caring about others.