12 | April | 2013 | Anélemc's Blog

As I continue my meditation practice, I‘ve come across writings, chanting, music, attended meditation sessions and the 14^th Dalai Lama (no, we have not met, just through his writings). Needless to say, I am in the Buddha zone of the most delightful kind.

Exploring Tibetan Buddhism continues to be an adventure in discovery, critical thinking and practice. As I read various writings and teachings by lay persons and lamas, I gain clarity and new perspectives. Of course putting what I’ve learned to physical practice is different than reading about it. Words in print can be glorified, oohed and awed over. Trying to get them to leave the page is another matter!

The Eightfold Path is one of many tenets within Tibetan Buddhism and shares similarities, in a strange way, with the Ten Commandments in that both are implemented towards spiritual growth and an enlighten way of life. The difference between the two, in my opinion, lies in presentation and tone. The Eightfold encourages changes which strive towards enlightenment while the Commandments, command. Do good, go to heaven, do bad…well we know where that leads to.

I was baptized a Catholic, attended Jehovah’s Kingdom Hall while a Catholic, later confirmed as an Episcopalian and now meditate as a Buddhist (or attempting – after all I am in the beginning stages). And no, I’m not imitating Pi Patel’s religious dabble from the book but at times it feels as if curiosity fuels the skipping, stumbling and jumping down the spiritual journey path.

The Eightfold

Right View-See things as they are not what you wish them to be
Right Intention-commitment to ethical behaviour
Right Speech-abstain from false speech, no lies or deceit, abstain from harsh words or slanderous speech or to speak maliciously against others, abstain from idle chatter that lacks purpose of depth
Right Action-abstain from harming sentient beings,
Right Livelihood-no dealing in weapons, in human beings (slave trade/prostitution), raising animals for slaughter, working in meat and production and butchery, selling alcohol or drugs
Right Effort-to prevent unwholesome states
Right Mindfulness-contemplation of body, contemplation of feeling,
Right Concentration-meditation

The Ten Commandments

Do not worship other gods
Do not worship idols
Do not misuse God’s name
Keep the Sabbath holy
Honour your father and mother
Do not murder
Do not commit adultery
Do not steal
Do not lie
Do not covet

frus•tra•tion
[ fru stráysh’n ]

1. dissatisfaction: a feeling of disappointment, exasperation, or weariness caused by goals being thwarted or desires unsatisfied
2. frustrating of somebody or something: an act or instance of causing somebody or something to be dissatisfied or unfulfilled
3. something that thwarts: something that blocks, thwarts, and upsets somebody all at the same time

-Frustration begins as a speck on my eyelash then erupts into a sty

-It consumes and attaches to the muscles in my neck and back with a vice-like grip, akin to a dog’s teeth holding fast to rawhide

-Seldom does a dog get frustrated at the rawhide, for the rawhide slowly unravels and dismantles under the endless gnawing leaving the sated dog justified

-My neck and back muscles clench up in the kind of tightness a heating pad will not ALWAYS dissolve

-My tolerance towards frustration is low, extremely low –Frustration+Low Tolerance=Stress

-AND that leads to mass consumption of Pringles original which adds layer upon layer of fat unto my belly which makes it difficult for my Gastroenterologist to feel my organs and let’s not mention what my Gyno goes through!!!!!

-Frustration is worse than the green-eyed monster for it is colourless and obscure, seeking shelter beneath all other psychological stuff, while jealousy…well it’s almost always apparent and it really is green!

-Cartoon characters are consistently forced into frustration in order to make the reader laugh, like poor Charlie Brown’s obsession with the football and its outcome

-or the Coyote

-the Wolf with the pigs

-Elmer Fudd

-Sylvester

-this stops here.

-If payroll is due by 5pm Tuesday and the supervisor in department A turns it in on Wednesday at 12pm would I be arrested for giving him/her Ex-lax disguised as Hershey?

-Frustration will be here FOREVER. How I choose to deal with its effects on me is my problem-only…

**image from the internet