on online social network

On online social network

Should online social networks be avoided because they induce defilements? Or can one be a master of their own mind that it should not matter what they defilements there are to be seen online? Does the less you know mean the more detached from sufferings you can be?

Online or not, we still live in intricate networks of our social lives. Just because you find something out online, it does not mean that your reaction would be different if you had found the same fact out offline. If one lives one's life with virtues in one's mind with an understanding about sufferings and delusions, in theory then one should not suffer and be deluded by any agents.

On people

I would like to think that I have changed, am changing and can change further for the better. My prejudices though prevents me from believing that other people can too. But that is my defilement.

Piggy bank

Mindfulness still eludes me in my pursuit of inner peace. I think I am doing a bit better understanding my mind, thoughts and the Buddha teachings. I still do not understand other people's minds and cannot relate to them emotionally. I wonder if it could be a blessing that I am generally detached from people's feelings and their emotions. Or is it in fact I am just distant, robotic and unkind?

A tribute to Maria for teaching me the piggy bank analogy - most helpful and easy to visualise. A very good lesson for a simple-minded like me.

Journalism

I am trying to imagine a life in journalism and wonder if journalists stop to think that what they are making a song and dance about now will soon become a past event and will be of little interest to people. News is reported by the minute and people are forced to consume it instantly. Most news are aimed to evoke passion in people - in good or bad way. Do journalists need to be a bit more moderate in what they are feeding us and do we need to consume more moderately?

People cry out about the 'new' government being Tory. They may have lost track of how short we live in comparison to the long list of things that occurred before our time and things that will happen after we are gone. So put in perspective, how bad can it be? Someone will surely survive.

Where is the real bear?

It puzzles me when people (in the West) talk grievedly about economic crisis and how hard people's lives are going to be when national debt rises to over 100% of GDP. True that being in debt is not very nice. Nor is having to cough up in higher taxes. But put in perspective, the worst that will happen to people in 'developed' countries is probably that people remain on the dole longer than they would have been under normal economic circumstances. In the absence of economic growth (which I see no point of), an ordinary man will have to tighten up, spend less and renew their view about thrift. Fewer restaurant meals, less spend on clothes, holidays abroad, smaller flat screen TVs, etc. Okay that is trivialising it a little but we might have forgotten that in a number of less developed countries whose economy is not judged to be in a crisis, people still live under the poverty line, with no means to afford 3 meals a day, let alone proper medication. With this in mind, should we still be gloom about bearish stock markets, falling currencies and higher taxes?

Life is so random

I feel that things that happen in life are such a series of random triggers. There are plenty of things that are beyond our control that we might as well give up thinking and planning.
Is the question, 'should we let life take us wherever it may'?

We could end up miles from where we try to be for the better or for worse despite our best intention to follow the plan or in some cases the path laid out for us. We could stick to the convention and yet we could still be swept away with the unexpected.

Or indeed is the only thing worth concerning about is our mind and how it responds to these stimulus?

ขันติ

I am grateful that Thailand has the head of government with the most patience. Imagine all world leaders with this dhamm - how the world would be so much better a place, although not by modern material standards but certainly the people would be less driven by greed. The leaders would then lead by example of how to live modestly and go about their lives moderately. There would less drive on the success measured by GDP, GNP, etc but more on social equality, cohesion and harmony. My prime minister Mr Abhisit Vejjajiva is a truly exceptional leader.

I am incomplete

It matters little where I am, what I do, who I am with. Because I am incomplete and lacking dhamma, there is no point to aspire towards better things in life. Rather than judging others, I should concentrate more on reflecting on myself and be grateful for what life has offered.

When the party's over

We just have to quit when it stops entertaining us. Why waste energy blaming others for our own disappointment. Of course it is natural for social animals like us to, at times, rely on others to amuse us but when the time comes we are all better off knowing that we can only rely on ourselves.

Despite the legal commitment even marriages, contracts, agreements, friendships and so on, every individual still plays his/her own game and when it stops being fun for one party or more, we can only accept it and move on.

More patience required

I failed again...