All that you can do is do your best - you cant control stuff but you should try to do the best you can to improve the situation
I am sure that this is not fully correct so if people here want to add or remove parts from/of this sentence and improve it you are welcome to do so
thoughts - ideas - examples - are welcome
All that you can do is do your best
Re: All that you can do is do your best
Looks good to me.
Kim
Kim
- Khalil Bodhi
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Re: All that you can do is do your best
I know that's the best I can do.
To avoid all evil, to cultivate good, and to cleanse one's mind — this is the teaching of the Buddhas.
-Dhp. 183
The Stoic Buddhist: https://www.quora.com/q/dwxmcndlgmobmeu ... pOR2p0uAdH
My Practice Blog:
http://khalilbodhi.wordpress.com
-Dhp. 183
The Stoic Buddhist: https://www.quora.com/q/dwxmcndlgmobmeu ... pOR2p0uAdH
My Practice Blog:
http://khalilbodhi.wordpress.com
Re: All that you can do is do your best
Oprah Talks to Thich Nhat Hanh
Thich Nhat Hanh : Well, happiness and suffering support each other. To be is to inter-be. It's like the left and the right. If the left is not there, the right cannot be there. The same is true with suffering and happiness, good and evil. In every one of us there are good seeds and bad. We have the seed of brotherhood, love, compassion, insight. But we have also the seed of anger, hate, dissent.
Oprah: That's the nature of being human.
Thich Nhat Hanh: Yes. There is the mud, and there is the lotus that grows out of the mud. We need the mud in order to make the lotus.
Oprah: Can't have one without the other.
Thich Nhat Hanh: Yes. You can only recognize your happiness against the background of suffering. If you have not suffered hunger, you do not appreciate having something to eat. If you have not gone through a war, you don't know the value of peace. That is why we should not try to run away from one thing after another thing. Holding our suffering, looking deeply into it, we find a way to happiness.
Read more: http://www.oprah.com/spirit/Oprah-Talks ... z2iy48StPI
Thich Nhat Hanh : Well, happiness and suffering support each other. To be is to inter-be. It's like the left and the right. If the left is not there, the right cannot be there. The same is true with suffering and happiness, good and evil. In every one of us there are good seeds and bad. We have the seed of brotherhood, love, compassion, insight. But we have also the seed of anger, hate, dissent.
Oprah: That's the nature of being human.
Thich Nhat Hanh: Yes. There is the mud, and there is the lotus that grows out of the mud. We need the mud in order to make the lotus.
Oprah: Can't have one without the other.
Thich Nhat Hanh: Yes. You can only recognize your happiness against the background of suffering. If you have not suffered hunger, you do not appreciate having something to eat. If you have not gone through a war, you don't know the value of peace. That is why we should not try to run away from one thing after another thing. Holding our suffering, looking deeply into it, we find a way to happiness.
Read more: http://www.oprah.com/spirit/Oprah-Talks ... z2iy48StPI
Re: All that you can do is do your best
Does this mean that even people doing "bad" things are doing their best since doing one's best is the only possibility? I doubt that this is your meaning unless you are a fatalist.....I am only offering this idea because suggestions concerning the wording were invited.
chownah
chownah
Re: All that you can do is do your best
Is it possible to do better than you best?
“As the lamp consumes oil, the path realises Nibbana”
Re: All that you can do is do your best
That is true .
What we can do is exercise a choice , of minimizing our internal reactions (sankharas in pali ) , thereby , helping ourselves and the atmosphere around us .
sanjay
What we can do is exercise a choice , of minimizing our internal reactions (sankharas in pali ) , thereby , helping ourselves and the atmosphere around us .
sanjay
The Path of Dhamma
The path of Dhamma is no picnic . It is a strenuous march steeply up the hill . If all the comrades desert you , Walk alone ! Walk alone ! with all the Thrill !!
U S.N. Goenka
The path of Dhamma is no picnic . It is a strenuous march steeply up the hill . If all the comrades desert you , Walk alone ! Walk alone ! with all the Thrill !!
U S.N. Goenka
Re: All that you can do is do your best
I'm not sure who you comment, the OP or the previous post (to yours) about Oprah. But I assume it is the OP.
I read "All that you can do is do your best .." from the OP, as it is about ones intention; yes people can do "bad" things, but if one is to reflect on ones intention, all you can do is choosing the most skilful intentions, as seen through your current delusion(s).
When one ".. try to do the best .." then at least it demands one to reflect about the outcome, based on ones intentions. When one reflect on ones intentions, one would gain wisdom, that is the antidote on delusion. At least that is what I think, when reflecting on the OP.
With a little different approach, I thought of a Shantideva quote:
First thought... "bad" by who's measuring stick ? I think that people doing "bad" according to my judgement, most likely think they do good, as seen through their delusion. In my view "bad" things, is mainly caused by not realizing ones own delusion (soon enough) as delusion.chownah wrote:Does this mean that even people doing "bad" things are doing their best since doing one's best is the only possibility? I doubt that this is your meaning unless you are a fatalist.....I am only offering this idea because suggestions concerning the wording were invited.
chownah
I read "All that you can do is do your best .." from the OP, as it is about ones intention; yes people can do "bad" things, but if one is to reflect on ones intention, all you can do is choosing the most skilful intentions, as seen through your current delusion(s).
When one ".. try to do the best .." then at least it demands one to reflect about the outcome, based on ones intentions. When one reflect on ones intentions, one would gain wisdom, that is the antidote on delusion. At least that is what I think, when reflecting on the OP.
With a little different approach, I thought of a Shantideva quote:
_/\_If you can solve your problem, then what is the need of worrying?
If you cannot solve it, then what is the use of worrying?
Knowing about dhamma, does not imply knowing dhamma
Re: All that you can do is do your best
...I think I might write up that quote and paste it onto my wall.Doshin wrote:If you can solve your problem, then what is the need of worrying?
If you cannot solve it, then what is the use of worrying?
To the Buddha-refuge i go; to the Dhamma-refuge i go; to the Sangha-refuge i go.
- reflection
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Re: All that you can do is do your best
For me letting go is the opposite of doing and the opposite of trying.
- purple planet
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Re: All that you can do is do your best
So what is actually
like now i decided to take it easy(easier) i enjoy music ect ... but when i can control it i stop
i dont do to much meditation and do short meditation sittings sometimes when i can i do a long sitting
I belive its the best state now - im slowly and easily doing more mediation time and less stuff for my enjoyment - BUT i guess i can do more if i really try to - so am i doing my best ? even if i meditate 10 hours a day i can allways do 12 - where is the
?my best
like now i decided to take it easy(easier) i enjoy music ect ... but when i can control it i stop
i dont do to much meditation and do short meditation sittings sometimes when i can i do a long sitting
I belive its the best state now - im slowly and easily doing more mediation time and less stuff for my enjoyment - BUT i guess i can do more if i really try to - so am i doing my best ? even if i meditate 10 hours a day i can allways do 12 - where is the
lay ?best
Re: All that you can do is do your best
Hi PP,purple planet wrote:So what is actually?my best
like now i decided to take it easy(easier) i enjoy music ect ... but when i can control it i stop
i dont do to much meditation and do short meditation sittings sometimes when i can i do a long sitting
I belive its the best state now - im slowly and easily doing more mediation time and less stuff for my enjoyment - BUT i guess i can do more if i really try to - so am i doing my best ? even if i meditate 10 hours a day i can allways do 12 - where is thelay ?best
The more one is aware of impermanence continually , the better. Hence , in effect there is always scope to give that little bit more , making use of any situation to its full . Its also really nice to feel and understand , our enjoyments , be it music , gardening and other engagements , these experiences are dominated by the sensations that courses through our body and mind at any given point of time . A liking to a song or a tune , is just a superficial liking , deeper, it is the sensation that was already there at that particular moment that stretches the liking of a song or any object/situation . Also , if we are aware, we will realize that at times there is this attachment to a song/object/situation , and sometimes there is no attachment. Similarly to the kinds of unpleasantness that we experience .Therefore , it becomes all the more clearer that its all an internal make up , and the thrill and reverence on walking on the path gets deeply entrenched .
Neither do we love anyone or anything , nor do we hate anyone or anything. Its just the changing sensations that rule ..........
sanjay
The Path of Dhamma
The path of Dhamma is no picnic . It is a strenuous march steeply up the hill . If all the comrades desert you , Walk alone ! Walk alone ! with all the Thrill !!
U S.N. Goenka
The path of Dhamma is no picnic . It is a strenuous march steeply up the hill . If all the comrades desert you , Walk alone ! Walk alone ! with all the Thrill !!
U S.N. Goenka