Useful Tips - ONLY WE CAN HELP OURSELVES

"Please Be Realistic & Think Logically In Life. Many Asked Me To Help Them But How Do I Help You If You Are Not Helping Yourself?

Know & Accept Your Issues Or Troubles Today !!! Do Not Create Troubles For Others & Yourself.

No.1 Rule In Life - Wish To Seek For Help?

Firstly You Must Learn To Respect Others Then You Will Be Helped Soon"

There is one very important discourse (A.N. 5.43) where the Buddha said that there are certain things in the world that everybody wants but are very hard to obtain, namely, to be born beautiful, to have happiness, honour, a long life, and a good rebirth after death. The Buddha said that these things are not obtainable by prayers or vows, or even by thinking a lot about them everyday — for if they were, why are beings suffering here? It is useless to only pray and make vows. The Buddha points out to us that if praying and making vows alone can bring us the things we want, then why is there suffering in the world?

We mentioned earlier about the student trying to get ten As without studying, and who instead prays and makes vows, and goes from one deity to another deity. This student, of course would never get his ten As. So the Buddha said that we have to walk the path that brings us to what we want. This means that if you want long life, then you must not kill. If you do not kill, then you do not even have to pray because long life will come naturally. If you want to be born beautiful, be good natured, not angry. If you want happiness, give happiness and you will deserve happiness.

Of course, it’s natural for most people to pray when they are suffering, and sometimes when we pray, our prayers are answered — mainly because we have the supporting karma. For example, a person might be very, very rich, and he suddenly gets cancer. He then goes all around the world to get the best specialist doctors in the world, but if his karma is not supporting him, even the best doctors from America or Europe will not be able to cure him. Another person might be very poor, and also have cancer, but if his karma is supporting him, he will be cured even though he does not have the money to go to a specialist centre. Someone might recommend him some herbs to take, or drink his own urine! So the right way to have our wishes fulfilled and have a happy life is to perform skilful karma, avoid unskilful karma, and without having to resort to prayers, all the good effects of the skilful karma will ripen and bring us happiness.

There is another important discourse (S.N. 42.6) where a certain headman came to talk to the Buddha. The headman said to the Buddha that there is a type of brahmins in the West that have a peculiar tradition. Besides the tradition of carrying water, bathing in the water to purify themselves and worshipping fire, when their relative passes away, they immediately take the corpse out of the house, and hold the corpse high up to the sky. They face the corpse towards heaven and shout the name of the deceased and direct him to go to heaven. They believe that because the corpse is facing heaven, the deceased can see heaven, and when they call out to his soul, the soul will naturally go up to heaven. Then the headman said that perhaps the Buddha (having psychic power) can bring it about that everyone after dying can be reborn in heaven. This is an interesting question because even in this modern age some people still believe that the Buddha can help us be reborn in heaven. So, the Buddha replied by asking the headman a question first. He said that suppose a man came to the edge of a deep lake, and held up a rock in both his hands, and threw it into the middle of the lake. Now as the rock was sinking into the water, all the people came together and shouted at the rock, and praised the rock, and asked the rock to float up to the surface, and float towards the shore. The Buddha asked the headman whether the rock would float up. The headman answered that it is not possible because the rock is heavy; naturally it would sink in the water. So the Buddha said that in the same way, suppose a man has done a lot of evil, he has killed, stolen, committed adultery, lied, etc. When he passed away (and his heavy karma was pulling him down), people came together and shouted to him to go to heaven, is it possible that he would go there? The headman said that it is not possible because he had done so much evil, so like the stone, he would sink into a bad rebirth. Then the Buddha said that suppose another man came to the edge of the deep lake. He took a cup of oil and threw the cup of oil into the middle of the lake. The cup would sink but the oil, being light, would float to the surface. As the oil was floating up to the surface, people came and shouted to the oil to sink into the water. Is it possible for the oil to sink? The headman said that it is not possible because oil is light, it will naturally float up. The Buddha then said that in the same way, suppose a person had done a lot of good, had not harmed living beings, and he passed away. If a lot of people were to come and shout, and curse him to go to hell, is it possible that he’ll go to hell? So the headman said that it is not possible because he is a good man. Naturally, he will go up to heaven (being lifted by his good kamma). So by answering these questions, the headman understood what the Buddha meant, that is, the Buddha cannot help us. Whether we rise, or sink, depends on our kamma. That is why Buddhism is unlike other religions in the sense that the Buddha does not say that by becoming a Buddhist, you are guaranteed a place in heaven. There is no favouritism. Whether you go to heaven, or elsewhere, depends on your own kamma. We cannot bribe heaven to open the door for us — this is fair.

In the Mahayana Sixth Patriarch Sutra, someone asked the Patriarch whether it is true that when people recite Amitabha Buddhas name, they can be reborn in the Western Pure Land. The Patriarch replied that the Pure Land is very near for those of superior wisdom but very far for those of inferior roots. He added, “The deluded person recites the Buddha’s name seeking rebirth there, while the wise person purifies his own mind.” From this it is obvious that our mind (or heart) is very important. In the Buddha’s teaching the world is the creation of consciousness or mind. A pure mind creates a happy world, an evil mind creates a woeful world. So purifying the mind is most important for rebirth into a happy world, not chanting or praying or making vows. This is another important principle of kamma we should remember. No one can change the working of the natural law of kamma. All beings are subject to the law of kamma-vipāka, even the Buddha. The Buddha explained the Truth or Reality of the natural laws of existence to us, but they exist all the time, whether we understand them or not.

Credits To Original Source