The Oneness Of Humanity!

I am deeply saddened by the extreme suffering of those who have been affected by the bush fires around the country. It is always in these times of adversity that communities bond together and people offer their generosity and compassion.

I think this quote from His Holiness puts into perspective how we can change our perspective on the interconnectedness we share, not just in these times of tragedy but also in our everyday lives. We have to consider that our actions and circumstances may affect others without our knowing and we should be considerate and mindful of our actions, this is "universal responsibility".

" As human beings, we are all the same. So there is no need to build some kind of artificial barrier between us. At least my own experience is that if you have this kind of attitude, there is no barrier. Whatever I feel, I can express; I can call you 'my old friend'. There is nothing to hide, and no need to say things in a way that is not straightforward. So this gives me a kind of space in my mind, with the result that I do not have to be suspicious of others all the time. And this really gives me inner satisfaction, and inner peace.

So I call this feeling a 'genuine realization of the oneness of the whole of humanity'. We are all members of one human family. I think that this understanding is very important, especially now that the world is becoming smaller and smaller. In ancient times, even in a small village, people were able to exist more or less independently. There was not so much need for others' co-operation. These days, the economic structure has completely changed, so that modern economies, relying on industry, are totally different. We are heavily dependent on one another, and also as a result of mass communication, the barriers of the past are greatly reduced. Today, because of the complexity of interdependence, every crisis on this planet is essentially related with every other, like a chain reaction. Consequently it is worthwhile taking every crisis as a global one. Here barriers such as 'this nation' or 'that nation', 'this continent', or 'that continent' are simply obstacles. Therefore today, for the future of the human race, it is more important than ever before that we develop a genuine sense of brotherhood and sisterhood. I usually call this a sense of 'universal responsibility'. "

--from Dzogchen: The Heart Essence of the Great Perfection by the Dalai Lama, translated by Thupten Jinpa and Richard Barron, Foreword by Sogyal Rinpoche, edited by Patrick Gaffney, published by Snow Lion Publications

Times of Change!

“In a time of drastic change it is the learners who inherit the future. The learned usually find themselves equipped to live in a world that no longer exists.” - Eric Hoffer

These are certainly times of change and let us all hope that new "Obama" revolution may be governed by the "learners" and not the so-called "learned", GW was no student of history but may the rhetoric be converted to meaningful change.

So much talk of "Interdependence", conceptually perfect and realistically a difficult challenge to achieve the understanding and ego-less state that goes with making it a reality.

The world that Obama has inherited already no longer exists, so we wait to see whether he is equipped to help us all create that future, a more peaceful and happy world in which to live and realise that by-word he has staked it all on "Freedom"!

A Mouse On Interdependance!

I was sent this moral tale and thought it captured wonderfully the Buddhist concept of Interdependence.
The mouse's story shows that whether we acknowledge it or not, our actions are inter-related and we should be mindful of the consequences of our body, speech and mind.

The link in the title is to an article on Tibetan Medicine referring to how the "Buddhist teachings tell us that we have interdependence with the whole environment, and that there is no enemy existing from its own side."


"A mouse looked through the crack in the wall to see the farmer and his wife open a package.

'What food might this contain?', the mouse wondered - he was devastated to discover it was a mousetrap.

Retreating to the farmyard, the mouse proclaimed the warning :
There is a mousetrap in the house!
There is a mousetrap in the house!'

The chicken clucked and scratched, raised her head and said,
'Mr.Mouse, I can tell this is a grave concern to you, but it is of no consequence to me. I cannot be bothered by it.'

The mouse turned to the pig and told him, the pig sympathized, but said,
'I am so very sorry, Mr Mouse, but there is nothing I can do about it but pray. Be assured you are in my prayers.'

The mouse turned to the cow, the cow said,
'Wow, Mr. Mouse, I'm sorry for you, but it's no skin off my nose.'

So, the mouse returned to the house, head down and dejected, to face the farmer's mousetrap . . . alone.

That very night a sound was heard throughout the house, like the sound of a mousetrap catching its prey..

The farmer's wife rushed to see what was caught.

In the darkness, she did not see it was a venomous snake whose tail the trap had caught.

The snake bit the farmer's wife.

The farmer rushed her to the hospital, and she returned home with a fever.

Everyone knows you treat a fever with fresh chicken soup, so the farmer took his hatchet to the farmyard for the soup's main ingredient.

But his wife's sickness continued, so friends and neighbors came to sit with her around the clock.

To feed them, the farmer butchered the pig.

The farmer's wife did not get well; she died.

So many people came for her funeral, the farmer had the cow slaughtered to provide enough meat for all of them.

The mouse looked upon it all from his crack in the wall with great sadness.

So, the next time you hear someone is facing a problem and think it doesn't concern you, remember, when one of us is threatened, we are all at risk."

It appears that the mouse had some notion that the emergence of the mouse-trap would affect all the animals in the farmyard but the other animals couldn't get through their ignorance to see the truth.