Generosity gives rise to abundance, and by insuring that our practice
is complete, we create the right environment to use these resources
constructively. Sometimes when we give, people respond ungratefully. If we
can resist getting upset, we are practicing patience. Giving not out of
a sense of obligation or reluctantly nor with a wish to outdo others
but with joy is the practice of enthusiastic effort. Directing our full
attention to an act of generosity is concentration. Discerning and
understanding what is appropriate to give and what is not, and remembering
that the giver, the act of generosity, and the recipient are all
interdependent and empty of inherent existence are the practice of wisdom.
Including these different factors in our actions will bring many
excellent results such as a good body and mind, the resources we need, a
pleasant appearance, supportive companions, the ability to complete what we
undertake, and the focus not to be distracted by the disturbing
emotions and so forth. This is how to insure that we will enjoy many conducive
conditions in a future human life. On the other hand, our miserliness
or impatience now could make us face many difficult circumstances in the
future.
--from "How Karma Works: The Twelve Links of Dependent Arising" by
Geshe Sonam Rinchen, translated by Ruth Sonam, published by Snow Lion
Publications
The everyday practice is simply to develop a complete acceptance
and openness to all situations and emotions, and to all people,
experiencing everything totally
without mental reservations and blockages,
so that one never withdraws or centralizes onto oneself.
- Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche
Well, we are leaving the New Jersey/New York area, and we have seen everyone we wanted to (except for one) and done everything we set out to do.
More on that later. Here's a quote from Sharon Salzberg, keep it in mind today:
"The quality of kindness gives us the ability to take abstract ideals like compassion, or 'love they neighbor,' and make them authentic and palpable and vibrant each and every day, going to work or going to school or going home, or getting through a situation we would never in a million years have chosen. When we really examine kindness we find it is a deep and abiding understanding of how connected we are. We see that kindness inspires a sense of ethics independent of any religious adherence, which can guide our families, communities, and the world we live in towards realizing greater safety and peace. I think this spirit underlies one of His Holiness the Dalai Lama's most famous quotations: 'My true religion is kindness.' "
An excerpt from The Force of Kindness: Change Your Life with Love & Compassion by Sharon Salzberg
Before we started on our journey, I read that nearly 40% of RVers carry a gun. When I mentioned this to my husband, I already had conjured up thoughts of rowdy, drunken, people waving 450 magnums in the air and partying all nite in every available RV park that we would want to go to. LOL.
He reminded me that this was not unusual since most Americans do carry some form of concealed weapon; a fact that doesn't come to my consciousness in the comfort of the liberal Bay Area- (home of the nuts and flakes as one Texan called us. )
Yet as we traveled, it was ordinary to see notices in bars and restuarants and parks reminding people to keep their little snub noses and 9 millimeters tucked away in their cases and not to be displayed. The displays are reserved for glass cases in truck stops and "hunting shops" where along with your knives, and duck hunting map. You can pick up a AK-47. A real necessity for deer or duck hunting....yeah, right.
For the latest check us out at http://www.jlarocca.typepad.com/rvlarocca