DHARMA IN EVERYDAY LIFE

By Nhat Quan

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When you have an optimistic, peaceful, and loving spirit, you inevitably have good health and, gentle psychology, and receive a lot of support. The benefits of compassion are truly great. According to Visuddhi-marga-sastra, there are specifically 10 benefits as follows:

01- Sleep easily;

02- When you wake up, you are as fresh as a flower bud;

03- When you sleep, you don't have nightmares;

04- Be loved by everyone;

05- Beloved by ghosts and animals;

06- Protected by gods and demons;

07- Fire, poison, and weapons cannot be harmed;

08- Easy to concentrate;

09- Bright facial expression;

10- Die peacefully;

If you do not attain Arhatship, you will be reborn in the Brahma heaven after death.

According to Maha Ratnakuta Sutra when you practice compassion there are eight things:

- Not afraid of soldiers and swords at home and abroad;

- Not afraid of the Devil;

- Not afraid of the disaster of the stars;

- Not afraid of evil and illness;

- Not afraid of evil beasts;

- Not afraid of thieves;

- Not afraid of droughts and floods;

- Don't be afraid of food shortages.

In addition, when you know how to cultivate a compassionate mind, you will easily be born into the Buddha's kingdom and easily attain the ultimate good results. Loving people, helping people, and living in harmony with everyone create trust and love and thereby help you succeed in life. However, the main effect of practicing compassion is to purify the soul. Continuously dedicating your life to others in every way is the way to forget your ego. Forgetting yourself is the greatest life lesson. When practicing compassion, fresh energy flows will appear, covering the whole body and mind. Compassion allows you to calm your mind and solve all problems wisely. One of the greatest benefits of practicing compassion is having no enemies, or few enemies, and having good karma. If you are reincarnated, you will enter a peaceful world.

Compassion is the cause and the result of all blessings in human life. If you plant compassion and love, at that very moment you will receive the energy of cool kindness. If you practice sharing or helping others in their difficulties, then at that moment you receive all kinds of spiritual and material support. Let go of everything and you will receive everything because the law of receiving is giving. The most important thing is that you share this action with everyone so that everyone can do good deeds together. Then this life is extremely beautiful. So there is a saying:

- One person does good deeds, thousands of people enjoy them,

One tree blooms and thousands of trees are fragrant.

That shows that each action, or personality, of each person is very important. People who are sincere and love others will create trust and solidarity. The world will be peaceful if everyone does good deeds. Lighting a lamp erases a darkness, giving rise to love and reducing pain. With just one thought of compassion, the saints have helped humanity a lot. As Maha Ratnakuta Sutra says:

- If there is a Bodhisattva cultivating compassion in any country, the people of that place will have eight noble good things:

1- Always make offerings to your parents,

2- Appreciate Shame for self and shame for others.

3. Respect monks, brahmins, and virtuous veterans, accept and maintain the precepts;

4- People no longer have the karma of killing,

5- Human hearts have no greed or anger, but always treat each other equally

6- People are not greedy, love giving alms,

7- Reprimand stealing;

8- The husband and wife are chaste, rebuking illegal adultery;

Second, when Bodhisattvas practice compassion in any country, that country has eight classes of great men:

1- Sentient beings from the past, in a place where countless Buddhas have cultivated good roots, would like to be born in that land;

2- Sentient beings from countless past lives have cultivated the pure precepts, are well-educated, and would like to be born in that land;

3. Sentient beings from countless past lives, respectfully making offerings to their parents, elders, veteran monks, and virtuous people, would like to be born in that land;

4- Sentient beings who have practiced the karma of heaven in countless past lives will receive heavenly bodies and willfully transfer the heavenly message to be born in that land;

5- Living beings often destroy evil karma, three evil beasts like to be born in that land;

6- Sentient beings with all dharmas of the Sravaka Vehicle would like to be born in that land;

7- Sentient beings with all the Pratyekabuddha dharmas like to be born in that land;

8. Sentient beings from countless past lives who have practiced the six paramitas would love to be born in that land.

In addition, if a Bodhisattva cultivates the four immeasurable minds anywhere, that place will have fertile land and good water. There is a state of supreme dharma, all people and all species have love for each other. When they leave their present body, they will be reborn in heaven. The sentient beings achieved merits, but the Bodhisattva's merits were not diminished.

Thus, if you can develop a compassionate mind, you will have the greatest gift to give to life, and at the same time, you will also receive a priceless gift for yourself. Compassion is the glue that nourishes present life. So if you leave this life and dream of some other world, or some better future, it is a fantasy. Buddhism believes that if in this life you cannot solve the problems of suffering, then after death you will not be able to solve them. Likewise, if you don't make your life happy and liberated right now, when you die you won't be able to find a paradise or some kind of bliss. Love is one of the main elements to make this life beautiful. Because love can create fresh and warm energy for everyone. Love is the glue that nourishes and animates all living beings. You are a part of the entire rhythm of this life, so you must integrate into life itself to contribute to making it more beautiful. Just compassion is the common ground for people in the world to live together, talk, and shake hands with each other. Without hatred, without gain or loss, win-lose, me-other... then there is no desire. Without desire, there is no fighting, and there will be no problem of who fights with whom. When the ego disappears, there is no one to conquer anyone anymore, and the language of fighting is also ineffective. Thus, failure is victory. When you understand that you are a drop of water in the vast ocean, when you understand that you are a part of the vast universe, there is no reason for you to be angry and fight.

Compassion is being completely proactive in giving. Thus, practicing compassion easily makes the flow of life energy flow and not get stuck. The past or future is often created by thoughts or delusions, which are things that are dead or not yet born. But the compassion that appears is the manifestation of the flow of life energy, of a loving heart. Compassion is a moment of mindfulness in the present. Compassion is never lost. When the heart is open, life becomes open. When compassion appears, all of life is beauty, indescribable happiness. The nature of compassion is wonderful, the complete joy of the soul. When compassion is there, all calculations, worries, fears, anger, and hostility... that are selfish are no longer there. When ego strongholds are broken down and your heart is opened, you will feel overwhelming joy. Once love is spread, happiness will come to it from all sides. Happiness here does not come from receiving, asking, or expecting. It simply comes from giving and enjoying the joy of giving. Compassion is also the profound wish to identify with the religion. Because compassion breaks down the stronghold of ego and people can enter the great Dharma world. Therefore, if you transform your mind of attachment into a mind of freedom, a peaceful, vast world will appear. When the door of your heart opens, you also open many miracles to life. The beauty of compassion is a free mind, not limited by time or space. Compassion opens wide horizons.

When your heart is open and all attachments are let go, then you have gone on an adventure like a cloud in the sky, wandering. The beauty of life and the beauty of love are strange horizons. Although it is far but not far at all when you are beyond the greedy, dreamy mind then you see it. It is the new flow of the present moment. The pure lotus blooming from mud is the most beautiful symbol of Buddhism. therefore Buddhism says:

- Buddhism does not leave the world to achieve enlightenment but enlightens right in the world.

So open up compassion from your greed, anger, and jealousy. Compassion helps you escape the prison of ego. Compassion helps you direct your mind to the wide sky, to freedom, and not think about trivial, meaningless things. Compassion begins to bloom when your heart opens, but it is no longer an expectation, it is just a willingness to give everything. Compassion only thinks about the vastness and feels happiness from giving.

Every river eventually flows into the ocean, every love ultimately reaches happiness. Turning toxins into honey, when your heart is open to living life to the fullest, it gives you such joy that you don't need alcohol or drugs. Only sad, bored, lonely, miserable people often turn to alcohol and drugs to relieve their sadness, and to find momentary pleasure. Only people who are burdened with individual egos, full of tension and oppression, turn to alcohol to relieve their ego for a while. Meanwhile, you do not know that compassion is a magical pill for the health and well-being of the body and mind without any side effects. It is the desire to receive that causes disappointment and frustration, because what you receive cannot be what you want. It is the crippled life, the fragmented, private life that gives birth to ambition in the games happening in society. A person who lives to the fullest, with an open heart, will have all his ambitions fulfilled. They are so happy in the present that they think there can be nothing more joyful than that.

When you have loving-kindness, you don't need to look for any other pleasure, because the heart can transform all boredom into joy. When the heart is filled with loving energy, the body and mind become pure. The mind can create lasting joy and is of course pure and harmless.

In every situation of the suffering of living beings, compassion always vibrates with profound sympathy. Compassion is the source of loving energy accumulated by sharing and praying for sentient beings to escape suffering and live peacefully and happily. Compassion brings fresh water to nourish the flower garden of charity for you, and at the same time transmits a gentle flow of energy to everything around you. Life is not about getting older and smaller, but about getting younger and bigger. So only with an open heart, do you have the opportunity to go deep inside yourself. Like an ancient tree, the taller and wider its canopy, the deeper its roots penetrate the ground. When compassion is fully opened like a fully bloomed flower, its fragrance is not only for you to enjoy but for everyone close to it. The nature of compassion is beauty that does not fade over time or beauty. Because the beauty of compassion does not come from taking care of yourself, on the contrary, it comes from forgetting yourself and taking care of others. Compassion is the flower of consciousness that has bloomed, full of fragrance and color. Compassion is not obtained from any other resource but from the power of the heart. Loving energy helps you have an optimistic outlook on life. You become loving life, become singing for no reason whatsoever. Simply because the flower is full of nutrients and opens its buds, the clouds meet the conditions and rain down, the lips are filled with joy and smile. Thanks to an open heart, you can discover strange horizons. Looking at life flowing poetically, looking at peaceful people, free birds, trees, mountains, rivers, sky, clouds, happiness. Seeing all as beautiful, all as sacred, is the state of mind of serenity, of innocence, and of the noblest blessings. Practicing compassion cannot be called sacrificing yourself, but rather receiving happiness from it. With a mind that no longer wants to receive, practicing compassion will receive practical benefits full of flavor. With a free mind, compassion is a noble, unhindered blessing.

Life in today's society is full of constraints, stress, and sadness, so compassion will help you balance your mind and body. If all emotions in the world are called luxuries and frivolous things, compassion is also a kind of luxury, but it is the most meaningful and practical luxury. Even though everything has faded or dissolved over time, the only thing left for people on earth is a compassionate heart. That is also true love, a selfless lifestyle, and a positive action that is most cherished by everyone in life. Because compassion helps people have beautiful ideals and a warm, loving, and happy life. Once the heart is open, every path and every door will be spacious and receive much light.

The teachings of compassion for you are a very profound lesson about cause and effect. From there you learn the lesson of selflessness and loving actions to make this life harmonious, bright, and good. I think that education, philosophies, or religions must teach you the spirit of tolerance and love as the first necessary language for you to understand and live peacefully and happily. Starting with each individual, let's create loving energy from this moment to contribute to the health of ourselves and society. For Buddhism, implementing the Bodhisattva ideal of sharing and helping people is the most practical way to realize the spirit of compassion. The second path is the path of Alahan, always creating compassionate energy silently and quietly, like a cool breeze blowing gently into life.

In short, only unconditional love like compassion has a chance to save people from separation, discrimination, and war. Compassion is the common language, the common religion for all humanity. It is a life of constraint, loneliness, stress, and depression that makes you turn to alcohol, drugs, and temporary games to fill and relieve. Only when the heart is open and the energy of love is present will a contented and healthy life result.

The earth is increasingly at risk of causing disasters, right now you need to limit consumption and limit exploitation that destroys nature. Contemplate the universality and open your heart to love and respect the common life of all living things. You should not produce all the weapons and means that lead to war nor educate about triumph and hatred. On the contrary, you should live in the spirit of universal solidarity so that you can be called civilized humanity.

If a place is in trouble, compassion is a common voice calling for people to help each other, and compassion is also a common action for the benefit of human peace. I hope that all people on earth know that your existence depends on the cause and effect of karma so that you can clearly understand the causes and results you will do and receive.

Peace and happiness are common desires for humanity, so true love is a common thing for everyone, not just any individual. Because of such great benefits, you must practice compassion.

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