Turn the other cheek RIGHT!

“As a Buddhist I should turn the other cheek RIGHT!”. Absolutely… Except when…

So there is this perception of Buddhist practitioners as being a quiet, easy going sort who are not confrontational at all. I can tell you from my experience true practitioners are not always like that. Yes of course they are willing to turn the other cheek. If it is the right thing to do. But it is not always the right thing to do. Maybe the person needs a strong rebuttal, a bit of push back to help them realise what they are doing is wrong – the assumption being that we somehow know it to be wrong?

But how can you know if you are acting correctly when you push back. this comes down to motivation or the way your mind is at the time you act to push back. Are you thinking “to hell with them, I’ll show them!”. Or are you truly thinking “what this person is doing is bad for them, so I want to prevent them from hurting themselves now or in the future and that’s why it’s important that I not let them think this is okay to do”. If you are thinking the latter then you are generally going to act well or least with the right intention.

Another measure I find useful is to ask yourself if you choose to could you turn the other cheek. If not then it’s really time to turn the other cheek. Because if you aren’t capable of walking away it means your anger is probably quite high and you really shouldn’t act from that place. This is when you really need to be strong to walk away.

Not easy to do all the time but at least we can start with a tactic that might help.

Easter and the art of Giving Perfected

The six perfections is something vital to the Buddhist way of life. They can be seen in two ways:

1) The traits of a perfect being, Buddha, Bodhisattva, Angel, etc.

2) Perfectionisers: They are the action that make you perfect if you practice them. Karmically they force you to see yourself as a perfect Angel capable of helping all others.

Jesus the perfecter of Giving

So with Easter here again a pretty obvious example is the great Bodhisattva from the Christian tradition Jesus Christ. Imagine getting the perfection of giving so perfected that you would be willing to give up your own life, your body for the benefit of others. Celebrated every day in Churches around the world is this act of giving. The body and blood of Christ so that sins may be forgiven! There is not much more to say that Jesus himself didn’t say.

He acted selflessly and asked us to as well:

Do unto others as you would have them do unto to you. (Think about what you do carefully and act as though you will receive what you give to others – good and bad – because guess what you will).

Turn the other cheek. (Practice the perfection of patience and the art of not getting angry).

What you do to the least of my brothers you do unto me. (Treat all people as if they were Christ in your midst).

And in his final acts he showed us to give without reservation. One who gives his life to the service of others so perfectly could never die. An amazing teaching on Karma and the act of Giving.

So today this Easter Sunday I bow down in respect to the wonderful Bodhisattva, Son of God, Christ the Saviour and Holiest of teachers Jesus of Nazareth.