General Buddhism > General Buddhism
What is stopping me from achieving the same results?
WoselTenzin:
--- Quote from: jessicajameson on June 14, 2011, 10:13:48 PM ---For me there's one thing that stops that change. LAZINESS.
Laziness to get out of my comfort zone.
I don't reinforce my negative habits by talking about it, but by not shifting my butt to change, and thereby just repeating my negative habits over and over again... coz it's easy, convenient and habituated already!!
It's scary. I know in my mind what's right, what's wrong and what I need to clarify. Yet, even knowing so - there is no shift.
I look at myself in the mirror and think: "You big, fat, lazy butt - you're going to end up boiling in a pot of oil in hell".
It's cynical and a bit morbid - but I have so much goodness around me but I choose to not use it for a greater benefit to others.
I read something today which I found SO SO APT (for this thread especially). I don't know who wrote it, I think that it was from some legendary drummer: "The noblest of dreams is nothing without the reality of disciplined behavior."
--- End quote ---
I can relate to what jessicajameson has said. My greatest obstacle to change is also my laziness, attachment to my comfort zone and lack of discipline. I know all that but it is still a great struggle to get out of it mainly because it the selfishness that cause the reluctance to change to accommodate others and the environment.
Change is difficult when the selfish mind is strong. I acknowledge that in myself and to get to the root of the problem, I find that I have to address my selfish mind. I believe that as the selfish mind lessen all the rest will fall in place. I say that because looking at the examples of great masters and saints, they achieve great results because their focus is always outwards towards benefiting others and as such they thing nothing of their own difficulties as long as others are benefited.
triesa:
Many reasons have already been mentioned by everyone here of how they stop us from achieving the same results.
And all these are very valid reasons, or rather they are valid afflictive emotions that bind us in our current state.
To help anyone better in this, I would suggest that we start by SETTING SMALLER TARGETS OR OBJECTIVES in whatever we want to achieve, be it enlightenment , a huge task or a big dream....
In doing so, we can achieve these smaller targets easier which will then propell us to set the next target or level, and so on and so on..
........
Understanding our afflictive emotions which set us back is good, but we must also find a practical way to help us to move forward......so as to achieve the same results as others or the buddhas.
Just my two cents opinion...
samayakeeper:
So what is stopping us from sincerely learning the Dharma and achieve results as so many Victorious Ones have done so?
I agree it is laziness. We procrastinate and say that we will start tomorrow but when tomorrow comes, we postponed it again. Our mind is so lazy because we feel comfortable doing what we are used to that when the thought of learning and practicing the Dharma, we pushed it to the back of our mind. And because we think so, our body follows suit. We rather carry on the daily non Dharma pursuits because we think these make us happy and contented. But when the party ended and we departed from friends, we return home alone. And when we wake up the next day we start to chase for the thrill again and again. We tell ourselves that the Victorious Ones are different from us. Are they? Who were they before they became victorious?
WoselTenzin:
--- Quote from: triesa on June 22, 2011, 02:15:49 PM ---Many reasons have already been mentioned by everyone here of how they stop us from achieving the same results.
And all these are very valid reasons, or rather they are valid afflictive emotions that bind us in our current state.
To help anyone better in this, I would suggest that we start by SETTING SMALLER TARGETS OR OBJECTIVES in whatever we want to achieve, be it enlightenment , a huge task or a big dream....
In doing so, we can achieve these smaller targets easier which will then propell us to set the next target or level, and so on and so on..
........
Understanding our afflictive emotions which set us back is good, but we must also find a practical way to help us to move forward......so as to achieve the same results as others or the buddhas.
Just my two cents opinion...
--- End quote ---
Dear Triesa, I like the positive note in your post. It's true that investigating and contemplating on what is setting us back is the first thing we must do to identify the real source of our lack of results but we must must not stop there. Otherwise all our investigation and contemplation will come to a naught. Nothing will change and we will still not progress from where we were.
What you said about setting smaller targets for all our goals initially is surely one practical way to progress forward. When we achieve these smaller targets, we will progressively expand to achieve higher targets and our success rate will definitely be higher.
If we set unrealistic target for ourselves in the beginning, we may be setting ourselves up to fail. Therefore, setting realistic target is important to ensure our graduated progress towards our goals and moving forward.
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