So I have been asking myself a lot of questions lately. One of them, or two to be exact, is about my life style. Alcohol is one of them, whether or not I should give it up. Living in a country where it is rather uncommon to do so, I believe that 2010 will see some changes of behaviour about me drinking alcohol. Whilst I don’t see myself giving it up 100% yet, I believe that I will reduce it massively. It should be about enjoyment and not about diluting my senses. I experienced the absence of alcohol before.

However, as the title suggest, no Buddhist should harm any sentient beings, including animals. Hence I am contemplating of becoming a vegetarian, or similar to alcohol, abstain during the week and have one day at the weekend to enjoy some meat. More as a special treat. I recently watched a TV show about mechanically processed meat which almost made me throw up.

But why should I become a Vegetarian? There are lists of reasons why you should become a vegetarian to be found online. For me it is mainly about not eating cheap and nasty meat, processed meat, and to live more healthily. Of course I then need to feed my almost 6 months old boy vegetarian food too, and he can choose later in life what he would like to do. I think that is fair, don’t you?

Living healthier means living with less risk to get cancer. I read a book I can recommend on “Eat to beat cancer“. It gives you a good insight why eating meat in moderation is much more healthier. It is similar to me giving up smoking: it is just the healthier option to give it up, isn’t it? There is no argument about it either

According to a Buddhist source, a lot of Buddhists and non-Buddhist eventually lose their appetite for meat out of compassion for the welfare of other living creatures. But vegetarianism is not required in order to follow Buddha’s path. That makes sense. It is more about not killing an animal but there is nothing said about not being able or allowed to eat the meat.

So based on the above and the thought of how animals are slaughtered, I believe that I will step up the game and reduce meat or even stop eating it from next year.

Love and Kindness to you, and all sentient beings out there.

Volker

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27 years ago, today, my Dad passed away, I was very young 15 years old only. The biggest problem was not his forever absences or no phisical presences, because he remains in my heart all time, every day and every single moment – smiling, crying and talking to me.

The problem was to see my family ruins day by day, my mum’s suffering, my brothers and sisters getting lost without knowing what to do to help my mum and each other. It was a hard time but we all survived and it was not so harder as so many other poor people problems. But from our mind full of attachment, self-grasping ignorance and lack of wisdom, it is not easy to understand his death. We have broken down, our hearts, minds, souls were became a wreck.

From the ashes I learnt and discovered myself, even if sometimes it is very difficult to keep this on my mind. And I believe my family did the same – in their ways.

Amazing was 18 years ago my niece was given birth at this same day. Victoria is her name. She is beautiful and lovely, a very special girl. Her heart is full of love and compassion and I am so proud of her existence.

Geshe-la says in his Book Transform your life:

“Although we have developed superior great compassion – the spontaneous wish to take the sufferings of all sentient beings upon ourself – we understand that, despite our strong desire to protect all sentient beings, we do not have the power to do so at present. Just as one drowning person cannot save another, no matter how fervently he or she may wish to do so, likewise it is only when we have freed ourselves from suffering and mental limitations that we are able to free others. If we ask ourself who has the actual power to protect all sentient beings, we shall realize that it is only a Buddha. Only a Buddha is free from all faults ans limitations, and has both the omniscient wisdom and the skill to help each and every sentient being in accordance with his or her individual needs and dispositions. Only a Buddha has reached the shore of enlightenment and is in a position to release all mother beings from the cruel ocean of samsara. If we consider this deeply, bodhichitta will arise naturally in our mind. We contemplate:

I want to protect all living beings from suffering, but in my present, limited state I have no power to do this. Because it is only Buddha who has such power, I must become a Buddha as quickly as possible.

We meditate on this determination again and again until it arises spontaneously.

Since then, I have tried to help my family in many ways, but I cannot do it, I am not able to do it, so I decide to dedicate all my efforts in this life to their benefit and request to Buddha to keep helping them, providing to them all what they need. Not all what they wish for, because their wishes are contaminated by deluded mind – the cause of their sufferings -, but I really request that they could have what they need to, in this life or in the next one, to become free from their samsaras and their sufferings.

L&K

Marcelo

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