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09/15/09

VR1 (WE ARE ONE ) +VE NEWS-MERITS makes us HAPPY MORALITY makes us HAPPIER MEDITATION makes us HAPPIEST.-Buddhist Microeconomics at the Ultimate Level-ONLINE TRAINING ON PRECEPTS AND TRADE-75- Centella Asiatica-INTERNATIONAL JIVAKA PRESUMPTIVE HEALTH PROTECTION (IJPHP) -Health is lost something is lost- A BLUE PRINT FOR LIFE ON INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS THE WAY OF TOLERANCE-Precepts (Character, morality self-discipline) is lost everything is lost-FREE ONLINE TRAINING ON BUDDHISM FOR CHILDREN-35 Best Friends [The Power of Friendship]

Filed under: General
Posted by: site admin @ 8:12 pm

ALMOST EVERY FRAUD involves
VICTIM
sending “CASH” money to a
Fraudster/Scammer.
ABSOLUTELY DO NOT send any money
using Western
Union / Moneygram.
Always deal ONLY locally by meeting
the seller/buyer in person.
READ and UNDERSTAND the methods used
by Fraudsters in the link above.

ONLINE TRAINING ON PRECEPTS AND TRADE-75

5

Buddhist Microeconomics at the Ultimate
Level

“The problem is not
with the irresistable things of the world, but the desires in the human mind.
In the absence of a desiring observer, the beautiful things of the world
never caused harm to anyone. Thus recognizing the real root of the problem,
the wise should make immediate efforts to avoid all elation with the
beautiful things of the world”

When looking for Buddhist
economic principles to take us beyond the material comfort and economic
security of Chapter 3 and the mental wellbeing of Chapter 4, to attain inner
freedom (especially from the defilement of grasping in the mind). What becomes
important is economic values and practices which lead to the uprooting of
sense-pleasure from the mind. Before looking at microeconomics at the ultimate
level, it is first necessary to examine the meaning of the word ’sensuality’.

Sense pleasure means
indulgence of the things that are attractive to the senses and it can be broken
down into two components:

Sense-side
sensuality [kilesakama]: the emotion of desiring something
which is a defilement existing in the mind and which forces the mind to
grasp after things and desire for things without end with the defilements
of grasping [raaga] and greed [lobha] as two examples of its
products;
Object-side
sensuality
[kamavatthu]: this means physical objects that
are attractive to us — images, sounds, textures, smells and tastes which
are attractive to the corresponding sense. An attractive image might mean
a beautiful flower or a sparkling diamond. An attractive sound might be
that of pleasant music, a pleasant voice, birdsong or the sound of a
waterfall and nature. A pleasant smell might be the scent of perfume or
the aroma of food. A pleasant taste might mean anything one finds tasty,
whether it be sweet or sour, salty or oily which one prefers. Something
pleasant to the touch [photabba] might be anything that which when
it comes into physical contact with one’s body is soft or pleasant.

Sense
objects have sometimes been compared to an unignited match head. The mental
components of desire are like the striker on a matchbox. Only when sensual
objects and their mental components come into contact with one another do we
run the risk of becoming slave to our desires. In any case, it should be
understood that the sensually tempting things of the world are not the reason
for greed — they are only part of the story. The sensual grasping comes from
the minds of men. Without the grasping in the human mind the attractive things
of the world never caused any harm to anyone. Once knowing the danger that lies
with the sensual grasping in the mind, the wise do their best to eradicate all
trace of sensual grasping from the mind.

Practically speaking, to
eradicate grasping from the mind, one must follow the advice the Buddha gave to
Bahiya Daaruciiriya (DhA.ii.209ff.):

“When
you see an object, be conscious of just the visible object (without being
entranced thereby); when you hear a sound, be conscious of just the sound; when
you smell or taste or touch something, be conscious of just the smell, the
taste or the touch; and when you think of anything, be conscious of just that
mind-object.”

By
doing this, one’s mind will always be without object-side sensuality [kaamavatthu].
By not being entranced by a perception, the sense-side sensuality has no chance
to flare up. The opposite would be the case if one becomes elated by the
pleasing things one senses, becoming entranced thereby and allowing the emotion
of grasping to hijack the ethical discretion of your mind.

The Harm of Sensuality

It follows that those whose mind is heavily under the influence of sensual
grasping and craving for sensual pleasures will soon have reasons to take advantage
of themselves or others or both.

For those whose mind is
overrun with grasping, killing, stealing, sexually molesting others and lying
is not very far away. However, if our mind is free of sensual grasping, there
will be no harmful thoughts to generate harmful speech or actions for us. This
is the reason why the Buddha taught monks and laypeople alike:

“You
should cut down the forest of sensuality in the mind — whether it be a large
forest or a small forest you should make sure none remains. Verily, I do say
that sense-side sensuality is as a forest and object-side sensuality is like
the trees.”

When
everyone is overrun with the defilements of greed the whole of the time, it
causes people to seek endlessly for happiness from sensual objects — this is
why such people are referred to as ‘consumers of sense pleasure’ [kaamabhogii].
In such a search there is a never-ending work to do — whether it be
acquisition, conservation or spending of wealth throughout one’s life.

BOX 3:
Kaamabhogii Sutta (A.v.176, S.iv.331)

The Kaamabhogii Sutta tells us about the ten varieties of ’supposedly’
wealthy people [kaamabhogii] — in so far as they deserve praise or blame.

Consumers
of sense-pleasure who acquire money by unscrupulous means (i.e. acquire wealth
by wrong livelihood) and having acquired it derive no enjoyment from it,
not do they disburse it for the benefit of others nor donate it for a
meritorious cause. Such an attitude to wealth cannot be said to be smart
— and on the contrary burdens them with worse demerit.
Consumers
of sense pleasure who acquire money by unscrupulous means, but who
derive enjoyment from it, but who don’t disburse it for the benefit of
others or donate it for meritorious causes. Such an attitude to wealth
is not smart in the acquisition and not particularly smart in the
spending — especially in the conservation of wealth, it is definitely
not smart;
Consumers
of sense-pleasure who acquire money by unscrupulous means, but who
derive enjoyment from their wealth, disburse their wealth for others,
donating it for meritorious causes too;
Consumers
of sense-pleasure who acquire wealth by a mixture of scrupulous and
unscrupulous means (wealth in this case might be acquired partly
honestly by a salary, but the rest might come from bribes — i.e. both
right and wrong livelihood) — but who derive no enjoyment from their
wealth, don’t disburse their wealth for others and don’t donate it for
meritorious causes. Such an attitude to wealth may or may not be smart
in the acquisition and is definitely not smart in the spending and
saving;
Consumers
of sense-pleasure who acquire wealth by a mixture of scrupulous and
unscrupulous means, who derive enjoyment from it, but fail to disburse
it for the benefit of others or to donate it for meritorious causes.
Such an attitude to wealth may or may not be smart in the acquisition,
is reasonably smart in the spending, but not in the saving;
Consumers
of sense-pleasure who acquire wealth by a mixture of scrupulous and
unscrupulous means, who derive enjoyment from it and disburse it for the
benefit of others and also donate it for meritorious causes. Such an
attitude to wealth may or may not be smart in the acquisition, but which
is smart in the usage and the saving;
Consumers
of sense-pleasure who acquire money solely by scrupulous means (solely
by right livelihood) but who derive no enjoyment from their wealth and
neither disburse their wealth for the benefit of others nor donate it
for meritorious causes. Such an attitude to wealth can be considered
smart in the acquisition but not smart in the usage or the saving;
Consumers
of sense-pleasure who acquire money solely by scrupulous means, who
derive enjoyment from their wealth and but do not disburse their wealth
for the benefit of others nor donate it for meritorious causes. Such an
attitude to wealth can be considered smart in the acquisition and usage
but not smart in the saving;
Consumers
of sense-pleasure who acquire money solely by scrupulous means, who
derive enjoyment from their wealth and also do disburse their wealth for
the benefit of others and donate it for meritorious causes. However in
spite of all their good actions, the people of these categories remain
blind to the harmfulness of sense-pleasure — they lack the wisdom to be
motivated to renounce sense-pleasure. Such an attitude to wealth can be
considered smart in the acquisition, the usage and the saving, but
because such people lack insight into the harmfulness of sense pleasure,
they lack the power to liberate themselves from the clutches of the
defilements of sense-pleasure — because they haven’t had the chance to
associate sufficiently with the wise;
Consumers
of sense-pleasure who acquire money solely by scrupulous means, who
derive pleasure from their wealth, who disburse their wealth for others
and donate it for meritorious causes. In addition, those of this
category are no longer blind to the harmfulness of sense-pleasure –
thus they have the wisdom to want to escape from the cycle of existence
[sa.msara] and this wisdom will allow them to renounce attachment
to the use of the wealth. Such an attitude to wealth can be considered
smart in the acquisition, the usage and the saving and furthermore
allows one to overcome oneís defilements, ultimately to enter upon
Nirvana.

This classification offers a very complete model of how
development of the mind can fit in with economic progress. The Buddha taught
the Kaamabhogii Sutta to Anaathapi.n.dika. Anaathapi.n.dika was the
Savatthii-based banker who was the sponsor for the building of Buddhism’s
first temple at the Jetavana Grove — but he was moreover renowned for his
wisdom. By teaching the Kaamabhogii Sutta to Anaathapi.n.dika, it was as if
the Buddha intended to appreciate Anaathapi.n.dika for his belonging to the
tenth category.

From the Kaamabhogii Sutta,
it can thus be concluded that the Buddha enumerated ten different sorts of
attitude subscribed to by people as shown in the following table:

*Ten Attitudes to Wealth [kaamabhogii]*
	Acquisition	spending			insight into harm of sense pleasure
	Acquisition	for self	for others	for meritorious work	insight into harm of sense pleasure
1.	wholly unscrupulous	derives no pleasure from wealth	doesn’t share with others	doesn’t donate	blind to harm of sense pleasure
2.	wholly unscrupulous	derives pleasure from wealth	doesn’t share with others	doesn’t donate	blind to harm of sense pleasure
3.	wholly unscrupulous	derives pleasure from wealth	shares with others	does donate	blind to harm of sense pleasure
4.	parially unscrupulous, partially scrupulous	derives no pleasure from wealth	doesn’t share with others	doesn’t donate	blind to harm of sense pleasure
5.	parially unscrupulous, partially scrupulous	derives pleasure from wealth	doesn’t share with others	doesn’t donate	blind to harm of sense pleasure
6.	parially unscrupulous, partially scrupulous	derives pleasure from wealth	shares with others	does donate	blind to harm of sense pleasure
7.	wholly scrupulous	derives no pleasure from wealth	doesn’t share with others	doesn’t donate	blind to harm of sense pleasure
8.	wholly scrupulous	derives pleasure from wealth	doesn’t share with others	doesn’t donate	blind to harm of sense pleasure
9.	wholly scrupulous	derives pleasure from wealth	shares with others	does donate	blind to harm of sense pleasure
10.	wholly scrupulous	derives pleasure from wealth	shares with others	does donate	has insight into the harm of sense pleasure

If a person can acquire their wealth solely by scrupulous means, and if they
can manage to derive pleasure from that wealth, while at the same time
disbursing their wealth for others and donating it for meritorious work, and
also having the insight to see the harm of sense-desire and the importance of
extricating oneself from it, this is the crème-de-la-crème of the ten
attitudes.

Wealth
is lost nothing is lost

INTERNATIONAL JIVAKA
PRESUMPTIVE HEALTH PROTECTION (IJPHP)

Centella
Asiatica

Family Name : APIACEAE

Botanical Name : CENTELLA ASIATICA

Common Name : PENNYWORT, INDIAN PENNYWORT,
ARTAYNIYA-E HINDI, JAL BRAHMI

Part Used : WHOLE PLANT

Habitat : Grown in waterlogged places throughout
India.

Uses : : It is Tonic,
Diuretic and Alterative. It is used in treatment of leporasy and known to
ameliorate the symptoms of the disease and improves general health of the
patient. It is a brain tonic and stimulates hair growth.
Centella asiatica is a small herbaceous annual
plant of the family Apiaceae, native to Asia.
Common names include Gotu Kola, Asiatic Pennywort, Antanan, Pegaga, and Brahmi
(although this last name is shared with Bacopa monnieri and other herbs). It is
used as a medicinal herb in Ayurvedic medicine and traditional Chinese
medicine.

The stems are slender, creeping stolons, green
to reddish green in color, interconnecting one plant to another. It has
long-stalked, green, reniform leaves with rounded apices which have smooth
texture with palmately netted veins. The leaves are born on pericladial
petioles, around 20 cm. The rootstock consists of rhizomes, growing vertically
down. They are creamish in color and covered with root hairs.

The flowers are pinkish to red in color, born in
small, rounded bunches (umbels) near the surface of the soil. Each flower is
partly enclosed in two green bracts. The hermaphrodite flowers are minute in
size (less than 3 mm), with 5-6 corolla lobes per flower. Each flower bears
five stamens and two styles.

The crop matures in three months and the whole
plant, including the roots, is harvested manually. When eaten raw as a salad
leaf, pegaga is thought to help maintain youthfulness. A decoction of juice
from the leaves is thought to relieve hypertension. This juice is also used as
a general tonic for good health. A poultice of the leaves is also used to treat
open sores. Interestingly, chewing on the plant for several hours induces
entheogenic meditation, similar to the effects of salvia divinorum, although
this practice is widely considered dangerous, as it can cause temporomandibular
joint pains.

Health is lost something is lost

A BLUE PRINT FOR LIFE

ON INTERNATIONAL
AFFAIRS

THE WAY OF TOLERANCE

The
Subcommentry on Flower Ornament Sutra

[Huyan Jing Sui Yanyi Chao] teaches, “The mind, the

Buddha, and all sentient beings are all the same.” Mutual

respect, forgiveness, by all peoples and nations. Because we

all reside on this earth, we should all have the same hopes
of

living together and promoting the idea of equality between

the Buddha and sentient beings, the sage and the oerdinary,

and oneself and others, and eliminate divisions between

peoples and nations. Everyone should adopt the international

perspective of “extending in the ten directions and

throughout the three time periods, “taking” the world as a

single family” as their starting point. This will allow
everyone

to embrace the Dhamma realms and become a citizen of the

world, protecting the environment and caring for all

resources. By treating others as we would like to be
treated,

we can awaken ourselves as well as others, improve life

and have faith, form good affinities with all sentient
beings,

in this way can we promote world peace together.

Precepts (Character, morality
self-discipline) is lost everything is lost

FREE
ONLINE TRAINING ON BUDDHISM FOR CHILDREN-35

Best Friends
[The Power of Friendship]

Before the time of this story, people in Asia used to say that there would never be a time when an
elephant and a dog would be friends. Elephants simply did not like dogs, and
dogs were afraid of elephants.

When dogs are frightened by those who are
bigger than they are, they often bark very loudly, to cover up their fear. When
dogs used to do this when they saw elephants, the elephants would get annoyed
and chase them. Elephants had no patience at all when it came to dogs. Even if
a dog were quiet and still, any nearby elephant would automatically attack him.
This is why everybody agreed that elephants and dogs were ‘natural enemies’,
just like lions and tigers, or cats and mice.

Once upon a time, there was a royal bull
elephant, who was very well fed and cared for. In the neighbourhood of the
elephant shed, there was a scrawny, poorly fed, stray dog. He was attracted by
the smell of the rich sweet rice being fed to the royal elephant. So he began
sneaking into the shed and eating the wonderful rice that fell from the
elephant’s mouth. He liked it so much, that soon he would eat nowhere else.
While enjoying his food, the big mighty elephant did not notice the tiny shy
stray dog.

By eating such rich food, the once underfed
dog gradually got bigger and stronger, and became very handsome looking. The
good-natured elephant began to notice him. Since the dog had gotten used to
being around the elephant, he had lost his fear. So he did not bark at him.
Because he was not annoyed by the friendly dog, the elephant gradually got used
to him.

Slowly they became friendlier and friendlier
with each other. Before long, neither would eat without the other, and they
enjoyed spending their time together. When they played, the dog would grab the
elephant’s heavy trunk, and the elephant would swing him forward and backward,
from side to side, up and down, and even in circles! So it was that they became
‘best friends’, and wanted never to be separated.

Then one day a man from a remote village, who
was visiting the city, passed by the elephant shed. He saw the frisky dog, who
had become strong and beautiful. He bought him from the mahout, even though he
didn’t really own him. He took him back to his home village, without anyone
knowing where that was.

Of course, the royal bull elephant became very
sad, since he missed his best friend the dog. He became so sad that he didn’t
want to do anything, not even eat or drink or bathe. So the mahout had to
report this to the king, although he said nothing about selling the friendly
dog.

It just so happened that the king had an
intelligent minister who was known for his understanding of animals. So he told
him to go and find out the reason for the elephant’s condition.

The wise minister went to the elephant shed.
He saw at once that the royal bull elephant was very sad. He thought,
“This once happy elephant does not appear to be sick in any way. But I
have seen this condition before, in men and animals alike. This elephant is
grief-stricken, probably due to the loss of a very dear friend.”

Then he said to the guards and attendants,
“I find no sickness. He seems to be grief-stricken due to the loss of a
friend. Do you know if this elephant had a very close friendship with
anyone?”

They told him how the royal elephant and the
stray dog were best friends. “What happened to this stray dog?” asked
the minister. He was taken by an unknown man,” they replied, “and we
do not know where he is now.”

The minister returned to the king and said,
“Your majesty, I am happy to say your elephant is not sick. As strange as
it may sound, he became best friends with a stray dog! Since the dog has been
taken away, the elephant is grief-stricken and does not feel like eating or
drinking or bathing. This is my opinion.”

The king said, “Friendship is one of
life’s most wonderful things. My minister, how can we bring back my elephant’s
friend and make him happy again?”

“My lord,” replied the minister,
“I suggest you make an official announcement, that whoever has the dog who
used to live at the royal elephant shed, will be fined.”

This was done, and when the villager heard of
it, he released the dog from his house. He was filled with great happiness and
ran as fast as he could, straight back to his best friend, the royal bull
elephant.

The elephant was so overjoyed, that he picked
up his friend with his trunk and sat him on top of his head. The happy dog
wagged his tail, while the elephant’s eyes sparkled with delight. They both
lived happily ever after.

Meanwhile, the king was very pleased by his
elephant’s full recovery. He was amazed that his minister seemed to be able to
read the mind of an elephant. So he rewarded him appropriately.

The moral is: Even ‘natural enemies’ can become ‘best friends.’

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