Thoughts of Enlightenment

“Everyday, think as you wake up,
Today I am fortunate to have woken up,
I am alive, I have precious human life.
I am going to use
All my energies to develop myself,
To expand my heart out to others,
To achieve enlightenment for
The benefit of all human beings,
I am going to have kind thoughts towards others,
I am going to get angry,
Or think badly about others,
I am going to benefit others
As much as I can”.

This was Lord Buddha’s parting message to his disciple, Ananda. ‘Budh’ means to awaken or to acknowledge. Buddha was greatest quester ever born on earth. He was the one who never bowed to anything. He intrepidly reasoned as far as the reason could take him. This type of fearless and impassioned search for the enlightenment is never been seen in the human history.

The four truths that were recited by the Lord Buddha were - He argued that the mundane life we lead is nothing but suffering as all things are ephemeral. Even what we apprehend as pleasure or privilege are not sustainable. The second truth is that the cause of pain is our desires to dominate, to impose, & cause discord. The third one is he the need to over come this self centered delusion of ourself. The fourth one chalks out the eight fold path as the way out of this self seeking cycle.

Mindfulness is what will help us to distinguish between the permanent elements of life and the trivia our mind is used to. Buddha’s only perception for mind clutter is self examination. The story of life is the reminder that one needs to separate the abiding principles of life from trivia. You need not to go any way but be the lamp unto yourself.

Self enquiry ultimately leads to the knowledge of truth. And we are all seekers of truth in one or the other way.

Buddha taught that all the struggling was the characteristic of false pride. All desires are dust and ashes. He thought that Trishna was the root of world sorrow, Stress and strain, noise and pollution, hatred and violence were wreaked havoc. The men of today must take refuge in Buddha, the saviour.

Aparana Chauhan