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37 Practices of the Bodhisattva - Verse 26
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Ken McLeod continues his commentary on the 37 Practices of the Bodhisattva with the 26th verse. Watch the other videos here.
26
If you can’t tend to your needs because you have no moral discipline,
Then intending to take care of the needs of others is simply a joke.
Observe ethical behavior without concern
For conventional existence — this is the practice of a bodhisattva.
For more of Ken McLeod's teachings, visit Unfettered Mind.
Hello Shantit,
Yes it hurts. Life can be so painful that people turn off emotion to cope, as your aunt did. This is a defensive device that protects oneself from the hurt but, unfortunately, often leads to hurting others to whom we have become emotionally indifferent.
diotima de m, you said something profound.
I think of my aunt who handles grief "spiritually", accepting the loss of a sibling with no emotion.
I felt her despair. It hurts.
Some teachers preach their own despair, a path that is emotionally cut off, as “the spiritual life” maintaining only those relationships that feed their need for adulation. Other relationships make them uncomfortable and they cut them off because, as you say, they would kill for their religion.
After years of practice, you don't have to think about it anymore. It's just your way of being in the world.