þriðjudagur, desember 16, 2003
Það var aldrei ætlun mín með þessu bloggi að fara út í neinar djúpar eða miklar pælingar. Ég hinsvegar pæli bara svo mikið í hinum ýmsu hlutum, að þessi ætlun mín hlaut að fara forgörðum. Hér eftir verður því kanski aðeins meira en áður af heimspekilegum pælingum mínum (sem eru samt bara pælingar lítt menntaðs fluggagnafræðings, og hvaða heimspekinemi sem er mundi vísast hlæja að þessu og álíta mig vitleysing.) Til að byrja með ætla ég að kópera hin átta vers huga breytingar/þjálfunar eftir Langri Tangpa, með útskýringum Dalai Lama og fjalla aðeins um þau eins og þau koma mér fyrir sjónir. Ég ætla að byrja á fyrsta erindinu, og svo kemur mitt komment í framhaldinu. Frandu.
1. Determined to accomplish all success, I shall always practise holding dear all sentient beings, who are more precious than wish-fulfilling gems.
We ourselves and all other beings want to be happy and completely free from suffering. In this we are all exactly equal. However, each of us is only one while other beings are infinite in number. Now, there are two attitudes to consider: that of selfishly cherishing ourselves and that of cherishing others. The self-cherishing attitude makes us very uptight; we think we are extremely important, and our basic desire is for ourselves to be happy and for things to go well for us. Yet we don't know how to bring this about. In fact, acting out of self-cherishing can never make us happy.
Those who have the attitude of cherishing others regard all other beings as much more important than themselves and value helping others above all else. And, acting in this way, incidentally they themselves become very happy. Even politicians, for example, who are genuinely concerned with helping or serving other people are recorded in history with respect, while those who are constantly exploiting and doing bad things to others go down in history as examples of bad people.
Leaving aside, for the moment, religion, the next life and nirvana, even within this life selfish people bring negative repercussions down upon themselves by their self-centered actions. On the other hand, people like Mother Teresa, who sincerely devote their whole lives and all their energy to selflessly serving the poor, the needy and the helpless, are always remembered for their noble work with respect; others never have anything negative to say about them. This, then, is the result of cherishing others: whether you want it or not, even those who are not your relatives always like you, feel happy with you, have a warm feeling towards you. If you are the sort of person who always speaks nicely in front of others but behind their backs says nasty things about them, of course nobody will like you. Thus even in this life, if we try to help others as much as we can and have as few selfish thoughts as possible we shall experience much happiness. Our life is not very long: 100 years at the most. If throughout its duration we try to be kind, warm-hearted and concerned for the welfare of others, and less selfish and angry, that will be wonderful, excellent; that is really the cause of happiness. If you are selfish, if you always put yourself first and others second, the actual result will be that you yourself will finish up last. If mentally you put yourself last and others first, you will come out ahead.
So don't worry about the next life or nirvana: these things will come gradually. If within this life you remain a good, warm-hearted, unselfish person you will be a good citizen of the world. Whether you are a Buddhist, a Christian or a communist is irrelevant; the important thing is that as long as you are a human being you should be a good human being. That is the teaching of Buddhism; that is the message carried by all the world's religions. However, the teachings of Buddhism contain every technique for eradicating selfishness and actualizing the attitude of cherishing others. Shantideva's marvelous text, the Bodhicaryavatara, for example, is very helpful for this; I myself practice according to that book; it is extremely useful. Our mind is very cunning, very difficult to control, but if we make constant efforts, work tirelessly with logical reasoning and careful analysis, we shall be able to control it and change it for the better.
Some Western psychologists say that we should not repress our anger but express it—that we should practice anger! However, we must make an important distinction here between mental problems that should be expressed and those that should not. Sometimes you may be truly wronged and it is right for you to express your grievance instead of letting it fester inside you. But you should not express it with anger. If you foster disturbing negative minds such as anger they will become a part of your personality; each time you express anger it becomes easier to express it again. You do it more and more until you are simply a furious person completely out of control. Thus in terms of our mental problems there are certainly some that are properly expressed but others that are not. At first when you try to control disturbing negative minds it is difficult. The first day, the first week, the first month you cannot control them well. But if you make constant efforts, gradually your negativities will decrease. Progress in mental development does not come about through taking medicines or other chemical substances; it depends on controlling the mind.
Thus we can see that if we want to fulfill our wishes, be they temporal or ultimate, we should rely on other sentient beings much more than on wish-granting gems, and always cherish them above all else.
Q: Is the whole purpose of this practice to improve our minds or actually to do something to help others? What is more important?
A: Both are important. First, you see, if we do not have pure motivation, whatever we do may not be satisfactory. Thus the first thing we should do is cultivate pure motivation. But we do not have to wait until that motivation is fully developed before actually doing something to help others. Of course, to help others in the most effective way possible we have to be fully enlightened buddhas. Even to help others in vast and extensive ways we need to have attained one of the levels of a bodhisattva, that is to have had the experience of a direct, non-conceptual perception of the reality of voidness and to have achieved the powers of extra-sensory perception. Nonetheless, there are many levels of help we can offer others. Even before we have achieved these qualities we can try to act like bodhisattvas, but naturally our actions will be less effective than theirs. Therefore, without waiting until we are fully qualified, we can generate a good motivation and with that try to help others as best we can. This, I think, is a more balanced approach, and better than simply staying somewhere in isolation doing some meditation and recitations. Of course, this depends very much on the individual. If someone is confident that by staying in a remote place he can gain definite realizations within a certain period, that is different. Perhaps it is best to spend half our time in active work and the other half in the practice of meditation.
Q: Tibet was a Buddhist country. If these values you are describing are Buddhist ones, why was there so much imbalance in Tibetan society.
A: Human weakness. Although Tibet was certainly a Buddhist country it had its share of bad, corrupt people. Even some of the religious institutions, the monasteries, became corrupt and turned into centers of exploitation. But all the same, compared with other feudal societies, Tibet was much more peaceful and harmonious and had less problems than they.
1. Determined to accomplish all success, I shall always practise holding dear all sentient beings, who are more precious than wish-fulfilling gems.
We ourselves and all other beings want to be happy and completely free from suffering. In this we are all exactly equal. However, each of us is only one while other beings are infinite in number. Now, there are two attitudes to consider: that of selfishly cherishing ourselves and that of cherishing others. The self-cherishing attitude makes us very uptight; we think we are extremely important, and our basic desire is for ourselves to be happy and for things to go well for us. Yet we don't know how to bring this about. In fact, acting out of self-cherishing can never make us happy.
Those who have the attitude of cherishing others regard all other beings as much more important than themselves and value helping others above all else. And, acting in this way, incidentally they themselves become very happy. Even politicians, for example, who are genuinely concerned with helping or serving other people are recorded in history with respect, while those who are constantly exploiting and doing bad things to others go down in history as examples of bad people.
Leaving aside, for the moment, religion, the next life and nirvana, even within this life selfish people bring negative repercussions down upon themselves by their self-centered actions. On the other hand, people like Mother Teresa, who sincerely devote their whole lives and all their energy to selflessly serving the poor, the needy and the helpless, are always remembered for their noble work with respect; others never have anything negative to say about them. This, then, is the result of cherishing others: whether you want it or not, even those who are not your relatives always like you, feel happy with you, have a warm feeling towards you. If you are the sort of person who always speaks nicely in front of others but behind their backs says nasty things about them, of course nobody will like you. Thus even in this life, if we try to help others as much as we can and have as few selfish thoughts as possible we shall experience much happiness. Our life is not very long: 100 years at the most. If throughout its duration we try to be kind, warm-hearted and concerned for the welfare of others, and less selfish and angry, that will be wonderful, excellent; that is really the cause of happiness. If you are selfish, if you always put yourself first and others second, the actual result will be that you yourself will finish up last. If mentally you put yourself last and others first, you will come out ahead.
So don't worry about the next life or nirvana: these things will come gradually. If within this life you remain a good, warm-hearted, unselfish person you will be a good citizen of the world. Whether you are a Buddhist, a Christian or a communist is irrelevant; the important thing is that as long as you are a human being you should be a good human being. That is the teaching of Buddhism; that is the message carried by all the world's religions. However, the teachings of Buddhism contain every technique for eradicating selfishness and actualizing the attitude of cherishing others. Shantideva's marvelous text, the Bodhicaryavatara, for example, is very helpful for this; I myself practice according to that book; it is extremely useful. Our mind is very cunning, very difficult to control, but if we make constant efforts, work tirelessly with logical reasoning and careful analysis, we shall be able to control it and change it for the better.
Some Western psychologists say that we should not repress our anger but express it—that we should practice anger! However, we must make an important distinction here between mental problems that should be expressed and those that should not. Sometimes you may be truly wronged and it is right for you to express your grievance instead of letting it fester inside you. But you should not express it with anger. If you foster disturbing negative minds such as anger they will become a part of your personality; each time you express anger it becomes easier to express it again. You do it more and more until you are simply a furious person completely out of control. Thus in terms of our mental problems there are certainly some that are properly expressed but others that are not. At first when you try to control disturbing negative minds it is difficult. The first day, the first week, the first month you cannot control them well. But if you make constant efforts, gradually your negativities will decrease. Progress in mental development does not come about through taking medicines or other chemical substances; it depends on controlling the mind.
Thus we can see that if we want to fulfill our wishes, be they temporal or ultimate, we should rely on other sentient beings much more than on wish-granting gems, and always cherish them above all else.
Q: Is the whole purpose of this practice to improve our minds or actually to do something to help others? What is more important?
A: Both are important. First, you see, if we do not have pure motivation, whatever we do may not be satisfactory. Thus the first thing we should do is cultivate pure motivation. But we do not have to wait until that motivation is fully developed before actually doing something to help others. Of course, to help others in the most effective way possible we have to be fully enlightened buddhas. Even to help others in vast and extensive ways we need to have attained one of the levels of a bodhisattva, that is to have had the experience of a direct, non-conceptual perception of the reality of voidness and to have achieved the powers of extra-sensory perception. Nonetheless, there are many levels of help we can offer others. Even before we have achieved these qualities we can try to act like bodhisattvas, but naturally our actions will be less effective than theirs. Therefore, without waiting until we are fully qualified, we can generate a good motivation and with that try to help others as best we can. This, I think, is a more balanced approach, and better than simply staying somewhere in isolation doing some meditation and recitations. Of course, this depends very much on the individual. If someone is confident that by staying in a remote place he can gain definite realizations within a certain period, that is different. Perhaps it is best to spend half our time in active work and the other half in the practice of meditation.
Q: Tibet was a Buddhist country. If these values you are describing are Buddhist ones, why was there so much imbalance in Tibetan society.
A: Human weakness. Although Tibet was certainly a Buddhist country it had its share of bad, corrupt people. Even some of the religious institutions, the monasteries, became corrupt and turned into centers of exploitation. But all the same, compared with other feudal societies, Tibet was much more peaceful and harmonious and had less problems than they.
fimmtudagur, desember 11, 2003
Ég er að öllum líkindum kominn með leyfi frá vinnunni fram á vor. Er ekkert búinn að heyra frá flugmálastjóra, en hann svara víst ekki emailum. Minn næsti yfirmaður er samt búinn að segja mér að hann og næsti yfirmaður hans (sko alvöru stéttaskipting hjá Flugmálastjórn, og engir kven yfirmenn) séu báðir búnir að gefa sitt leyfi þannig að þetta er orðið nokkuð öruggt. Það er meira að segja farið að koma verkefnunum mínum yfir á aðra. Þannig að allt bendir til þess að ég sé kominn með frí... þó ég hafi ekki enn fengið neitt formlegt svar.
Varðandi námið þá fékk ég smá bakþanka um daginn (enn og aftur réttara sagt). Var ekkert viss um að ég ætti að vera að fara í verkfræði. Ætti kanski frekar að fara í bifvélavirkjun. Þar gæti ég þó allavegana unnið mér inn smá tekjur með því að taka að mér bíla til viðgerða fyrir vini og ættingja, og jafnvel kaupa tjónaða bíla til að gera við og selja. En eftir nokkra daga af örvæntingu og vonleysi komst ég aftur til sjálfs míns og er nú harð ákveðinn í því að verkfræðin sé besti kosturinn. Nú er bara að standa sig. Ætla að reyna að finna einhvern tíma til að fara yfir inngangs kaflana að Stærðfræðigreiningunni, og jafnvel kíkja aðeins yfir rafmagnsfræðina. Veitir ekkert af því að rifja hana upp. Sérstaklega ef ég á einhverntíman eftir að gera alvöru úr því að fá mér Mega Squirt í SAABinn.
Varðandi námið þá fékk ég smá bakþanka um daginn (enn og aftur réttara sagt). Var ekkert viss um að ég ætti að vera að fara í verkfræði. Ætti kanski frekar að fara í bifvélavirkjun. Þar gæti ég þó allavegana unnið mér inn smá tekjur með því að taka að mér bíla til viðgerða fyrir vini og ættingja, og jafnvel kaupa tjónaða bíla til að gera við og selja. En eftir nokkra daga af örvæntingu og vonleysi komst ég aftur til sjálfs míns og er nú harð ákveðinn í því að verkfræðin sé besti kosturinn. Nú er bara að standa sig. Ætla að reyna að finna einhvern tíma til að fara yfir inngangs kaflana að Stærðfræðigreiningunni, og jafnvel kíkja aðeins yfir rafmagnsfræðina. Veitir ekkert af því að rifja hana upp. Sérstaklega ef ég á einhverntíman eftir að gera alvöru úr því að fá mér Mega Squirt í SAABinn.
mánudagur, desember 08, 2003
Have you ever thought, right, but you don't know, but you may have already lived the happiest day in your whole fuckin' life and all you have left to look forward to is fuckin' sickness and purgatory?
Johnny, í Naked eftir Mike Leigh
Johnny, í Naked eftir Mike Leigh
laugardagur, desember 06, 2003
Jæja, þá er maður kominn með Operu og íslenskt lyklaborð. Það er samt eitt sem ég er ekki sáttur við, tölvan vikrar svo hæg í Linux. Eins og ég sé með miklu hægari örgjörfa en ég er með. Keyrir Rauðhetta einhver heimtufrek forrit í bakgrunninum? Best að halda áfram að grúska.
Jaeja, tha er madur loksins ordinn gjaldgengur linux nord. Thessi faersla er semsagt skrifud i tolvunni minni i Mozilla, i Red Hat 9.0. Nu verd eg bara ad installa islenska lyklabordinu og downloada Operu (www.opera.com, aetladi ad hafa link, en eg kann ekki ad gera gaesalappir a ensku lyklabordi :os ).
fimmtudagur, desember 04, 2003
Skrapp niður í Tölvulista áðan og keypti mér sjónvarpskort. Mér til mikillar ánægju þá kom í ljós að starfsmenn Flugmálastjórnar eru með 20% afslátt hjá þeim, þannig að ég þurfti aðeins að borga 7920 fyrir kortið. Takmarkið er að ná að tengja og koma því í gang fyrir 7 fréttirnar. Hæpið að það náist reyndar héðan í frá, en það má reyna :). Er ekki enn búinn að geta tengst netinu í gegnum linux, er orðinn alvarlega pirraður á þessu. Verð að fara að koma þessu í gagnið. 20 Gb Windows diskurinn minn er stútfullur og ég vil fara að koma Linux í lag svo ég geti flutt .MP3 filana yfir á linux diskinn og búið þannig til smá pláss á windows disknum. Ekki nógu gott sko.
miðvikudagur, desember 03, 2003
Bætti við link á explodingdog. Explodingdog er nefninlega snilld. Tékkið á þessu: we're all gonna die. Algjör snilld.
þriðjudagur, desember 02, 2003
Jæja, þá er það búið og gert. Ég er búinn að senda flugmálastjóra formlega beiðni um leyfi til að fara í skóla eftir áramót. Vona að ég fái það, og að ég ráði við námið... og hafi gaman af því.
mánudagur, desember 01, 2003
Jæja, er eiginlega alveg batnað í maganum. En er líka orðinn svangur aftur. En það skiptir ekki málið, af því að ég kemst út í sjoppu eftir korter.
...og nú geldur maður þess að hafa asnast til að borða mjólkurvörur í einhverjiu svengdarkasti. Djöfuls drasl meltingavegur. Og þessar lactasin pillur virka ekki neitt.
...350 hitaeiningum síðar. Já mér tókst að verða mér úti um smá næringu. Ekki mikið, en samt eitthvað. Ég barði bara einn vinnufélagan minn og stal nestinu hennar. Segið svo að karate nýtist ekkert dags daglega. Þetta voru að vísu bara tvær abt-mjólkur dollur sem ég hafði upp úr krafsinu, en allt er betra en ekkert. OK þá, ég fann þær inni í mötuneyti, ég stal þeim ekkert af neinum. Þarf meira að segja að borga fyrir þær. Helvítis kellingin sem ég barði var hvorki með nesti né matarmiða. Djöfulls beljan.
