The weak are meat and the strong must eat?

As a vegan and a Buddhist I find the fact that people have to kill anything unfortunate, I woke up to this truth last year, however, as my friend Ian pointed out once, we only tend to want to save the cute animals. What about the billions of other animals like cows, horses, chickens that die every single day in often horrific and painful circumstances?

Human beings are brutal creatures, we have been since we left caves and tribal roots, but we are evolving at an exponential rate. A plant based diet is not only beneficial to your health it is beneficial to the environment, and if you are suffering from diet related illnesses or obesity it could save your life. You only need to take a look at the China Study https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_China_Study To see evidence of these claims.

Buddhism and Suffering

What kind of shield do you have?

Being a Buddhist does not make you immune to suffering, or destined to live a charmed life free from the troubles of mankind.

It simply means you are equipped with the tools to take a different path, it reminds you of the wisdom you posses, to help you navigate the rough seas of life.

When illness, grief or suffering overcomes us, this does not mean we have failed.

We should remind our selves that with every new life, and with every passing moment, we have another opportunity to try again and to win.

There are no failures, only growth.

Namaste
Bobby

For The Sake of Peace.

Compassion and love are the answers to everlasting peace.

“But when all the young men refuse to kill for the sake of peace, and when all the women forbid their men to kill for the sake of peace, and when you realize that no peace will come through killing, and that the end does not justify the means, and when you grow full and light with thoughts of peace, there will be an end to war. But as long as any men go to war for the sake of peace, there will be war. And, as long as any woman teaches her sons to go to war because of love of the peace, there will be war.

You make your world. When you populate your world with ideas of peace, then peace will grow. When you think thoughts of aggression, you attract aggression and you draw it out from others in daily contact, and on the part of nations.

...Now you cannot understand this now, and yet I tell you that your own preoccupation with arms, as a country, is received by others, and your own thoughts are materialized and you create wars in your minds that then must be faced with your flesh and your blood.

The reality that you have is a replica of your thoughts. If you do not like the world, you must change your thoughts and no exterior manipulation will change the face of your experience one iota, if you do not change your dreams and your thoughts.

...Unfortunately, you equate aggression with strength, so you are afraid to elect a peaceful man. And all the other countries feel the same, so they are afraid to put into power, by whatever means, peaceful men. And so your world situation is the result of your individual beliefs, en masse.

...Now, when individually you believe in peace, and when you no longer believe that good is weak and evil is powerful, then, on countrywide bases, you will put people into power who believe in the active nature of peace. And, again, there is no other answer.”
- Seth

Find out more about the teachings of Seth here - http://www.sethlearningcenter.org/

How do we appreciate what we do have when we have never truly suffered?

July 8, 1926 – August 24, 2004

The most beautiful people we have known are those who have known defeat, known suffering, known struggle, known loss, and have a found their way out of the depths. These persons have an appreciation, a sensitivity, and an understanding of life that fills them with compassion, gentleness, and a deep loving concern. Beautiful people do not just happen."

Elizabeth Kübler Ross

Why do bad things happen to good people? Do I choose my karma?

So why do bad things happen to good people? Why are children abused and wars occur? Why did you mum get cancer or did you brother die young?

All these questions do not have a simple answer, but in Buddhist philosophy we have a few possible ideas of why this might happen.

In Buddhism we basically believe that everyone is the same age, since we are eternal beings, the fact that a person is a child and you are an adult is simple a case of perspective.

We are all simply popping in and out of existence at different intervals, and at different times. Just like the atoms in our bodies, the seasons coming and going and the water that moves through-out the earth, via the precipitation cycle.

Now; the idea that a baby can come in to the world and have bad things happen to them is something that is not easy to grasp or to try to understand.

In my opinion;  no one consciously chooses their suffering, but I know from our beliefs as Buddhists, we choose our suffering on a different level, (not the level of the conscious mind/brain) as it sets us on a path. But we are not isolated beings as we are all connected, and every thing that we do and experience effects our families, our communities and ultimately the entire world.

Take that young lad dying in the US from bullying about being gay, it has sparked a HUGE debate and people are sitting up and talking about the issues facing gay people.

I see life very much like a play or a drama, we are all actors on the stage of life, and we step on and off that stage with many different masks.

The stories that we tell and the experiences we live are written in the script of that play, and we are the ones who are writing it, as we go and move forward.

Bad things happen to good people, not because they ask for it, or deserve it, but because they are simply on a path that led them through suffering.

It is like walking a path through a forest, we have to struggle through the thorns to get out the other side, but through that suffering we are stronger, wiser and more connected to the source of all creation. (God, Allah, The Universe etc.)

Deep suffering has caused many human beings to break free from their old ways of being and become great and powerful minds and creators.