my Buddhist blog number 170

Hi Everybody,
apologies. There's been a bit of a gap since the last episode. I've been tied up sorting stuff out with an Italian publisher who wants to take world rights on Buddhism and the Science of Happiness and The Case for Buddhism. To say that I'm totally blown away is a total understatement. It's amazing. Truly. A big publisher doing the Buddha's work. Can't keep the smile of my face.

Anyway, we're in the middle of this chapter on Buddhism and the problem paradox, which I have to say, on re-reading is quite good!!Well...there's some good stuff in it. .
So we pick up where we left off.
' Buddhism is good at dealing with problems, since it was actually born out of the realisation that the nature of human life is always tough and challenging and frequently involves considerable suffering. So that's the starting point if you like that Buddhism asks us to recognise, in setting our levels of expectation . We should expect it to be tough and challenging. So there is absolutely nothing to be gained, it argues, from railing at problems as they continue to occur in our lives, which we often do of course. ' Why is this happeningn to me? What have I done to deserve this? Or just as often, basing our hopes for happiness on some longed-for problem- free future. The key, Nichiren tells us, in his typically direct style, the key is really just to get on with living our lives;
' Though worldly troubles may arise, never let them disturb you. No one can avoid problems...' 

No one. Moreover Buddhism constantly reminds us that in our lives, everything begins with us. That may not sound on the face of it, to be a particularly ground-breaking idea. But is is remarkable how often this apparently obvious principle is ignored. It is our life in every sense. So if there's friction or frustration or difficulty coming at us from various directions, then, Buddhism argues, the place to look for the root cause is ...guess where....within our own life. That may be difficult for us to accept , very difficult. Indeed we may have to go through a huge internal struggle to accept it, but when you think about it even for a minute or two, that is the real meaning of taking responsibility for our life isn't it?

What is it about our behaviour, our thoughts, our words and actions that is giving rise to this difficulty? What subliminal signals are we giving off that trigger this response from our environment? How do we need to change in order to resolve this difficult issue? That may initially as I've said, be a very hard lesson to swallow. sometimes we can manage it. Sometimes we can't. We're only human after all. But when we can it carries with it immeasurably huge benefits that arise in no other way. Namely if we fully recognise and accept that the cause comes from within our own life, then so too does the remedy.

It lies within our grasp.

That's it for today.
See you next time.
Best wishes,
William
PS The Case for Buddhism,is available on Amazon and as a download on Kindle.

my buddhist blog number 168

Hi Everybody,
beautiful spring we're having here in UK.
Right well we've launched out into this chapter called Buddhism and the Problem Paradox, and we've talked in 167 briefly about some of the strategies we normally employ towards problems in our lives, like ignoring them for example, very common. Or dumping them into someone else's lap, which again we all do a great deal. This isn't my problem we say, its theirs!!!

And if those strategies still don't block up all the crevices in our defences then we are often complicit in creating a kind of fiction that we are quite happy to share with one another. so although problems and crises and the anxieties and the suffering they bring, continue to swallow up a considerable portion of our energies, we make it quite clear to ourselves and everyone else that they are a completely abnormal exception to the normal flows and patterns of our life. No matter how frequently they occur or how disturbing they may be in derailing our lives, we persuade ourselves time and time again that as soon as this particular setback, hiccup, crisis or disaster has passed us by, our life will revert to its normal routine, untroubled state. Why? because the life state we've convinced ourselves we need to be happy, you know, the one without any hassle. you could say it is the idealised unreal life state that we're all pretty much addicted to.

:et's be clear, of course several of those strategies have their rightful place in our armoury. We haven't evolved them for nothing! No one for example would question the prudence of arranging whatever insulation we can, since we live in troubled times. and although the fiction strategy may not keep any actual problems at bay, it probably helps to lessen the anxiety those problems create. But the key question surely has to be, can this possibly be enough? Is this the best we can do?

And the reason that question is so relevant is that this is not some remote or theoretical issue is it? It is close up and very personal. We're talking about real life-time strategies here, that involve all of us, throughout all our lives. This is how we actually handle the daily detail of our lives. And we could certainly argue I think that learning how to deal with problems effectively has got to be one of the most important steps along the road to well-being. What can be more important? So we share a deep and common interest I suggest, in posing this question as to whether or not these strategies are adequate. Are they anywhere close to the best response that we can come up with? How in fact does Buddhism help us to answer that question?

Thanks for reading thus far.
See you next time.
Best wishes,
William
PS The Case for Buddhism is available from Amazon and as a download on kindle.