Have you ever wondered how useful are the buddhist knowledge in practical living?
Talks about getting rid of ignorance and delusions to gain wisdom and enlightenment. Then a promise of finding happiness in life…..
When I started reading about Buddhism, these statements sound logical but at the same time it also seems foreign.
If a lightbulb does appears on top of our head like those illustrations in comic, my light bulb is in the shape of a question mark.
Its like you get it but don’t quite get it at the same time huh?
Lets talk about delusion.
What exactly is it?
To get the answer, we just need to reflect and recollect what we are thinking in our mind. Mental images and messages that flashes in our mind at every moment.
One moment, we think about a past experience. The next moment, we imagine the future. All these mental activities are happening constantly. They affect the way we behave and act.
These are delusions. They are not real. So that is one type of delusion.
Delusions affect our emotion and how we interact with the world.
For example, if we are going to meet a friend whom we have not kept in touch for a long time. Do you find yourselves reminiscing about the fun you used to have together? That is delusion. It leads to a craving for the same experience. When you meet up, you found that things are no longer the same. Disappointment follows.
Alternatively, we can be open minded. We remember our past, but we do not let that burden our mind. We do not have expectation and we allow new opportunity to arise. We may discover something new about our old friend. Embrace that and continue building new experience with them.
If we examine carefully, the pattern of delusional thoughts actually happens every day with everyone. Our family, our friends, our colleagues,our spouse etc.
We are constantly expecting the best or worst from people around us, caused by delusions. This prevent us from interacting in an open minded manner.
Not only with people, but also with situations. Our mind will feed us with thoughts of the past and future. That in turns affect our interactions.
While our past may serve as a lesson learnt, it does not necessarily mean all future events will unfold in the same manner.
The best is being capable of meeting every day and everyone with an open and balanced mind. That is what living in the moment means.
We try not to be positively or negatively bias. Not to be deluded by our past experience or future fantasy.
To achieve that we have to train our mind so that it does not go out of control. Creating deluding thoughts of our past or future.
That is why we practice meditation or chanting. Techniques that help to rein in our mind and discipline it from endless delusion.
When we succeed. We will then face every situation and everyone with openness. We are not deluded by our thoughts of the past or future. Every experience is new. We perform at our optimal. Unchained by our past memory or future fantasy.
May all be well and happy.
