Giving Up

[Tammy]

Big Uncle,

Thank you for sharing, I totally relate to what you say and the biggest regret in my life is that I met dharma late! I met dharma in my early 40s n I have made commitments which I have to fulfill for the rest of my life. I wouldnt have made these commitments had I met dharma earlier! Well, this is my karma and I have to bear with it and make the best out of the rest of my life.

All I can say is, I am extremely lucky to have met dharma in my life (despite a bit) but I will treasure the opportunity to enjoy the glory of dharma and spend the rest of my life helping others.

Hopefully I will be able to do the same in my future lives until I have purify all the negative karma that I have accumulated..
 

[Jessie Fong]

Giving up is so easy - just walk away.  But do we ever stop to think for a moment that by doing so, the mess that we created is still there, no solution has been found.  Do we just leave it to others to solve for us? Do we just wash our hands and so be it?

If we give up as such, then we are just being irresponsible and selfish to a point, if I may say so.  We should really try different ways to find a solution.

Like Sonam Dhargey said : ... even though we fail, at least we tried and we can learn from that experience and improve.

The essence here is that we "TRY".

[vajratruth]

In a life without understanding of the dharma, "giving up" in an always present option. It's an easy way out which is widely practiced and accepted. We give up on friends when its too hard to keep the friendship, we give up learning things when it gets too hard and the learning becomes inconvenient, we give up on our deepest dreams after the smallest obstacle surfaces and ultimately  by habit we give up our own potential.

If there is one thing we have practiced all our lives, it is to give up. Unfortunately, often dharma is not spared. Dharma is not hard but it feels difficult because it makes us confront all that is stopping us from real happiness. Dharma makes us see what is wrong with our lives and how wrong our perceptions have been about so many things. Dharma wants us to change what we have held to be the truth and let go of what we have held on so tightly.

If I am still in the Dharma it is only by the supreme kindness and the great skills of my Guru who have upheld me in courage, faith, strength and understanding, even as he has pushed me to break through all that has held me back. Without my Guru, and the love of the Dharma that he has planted so deeply into me, I would have given up.

Of all the things we may give up, dharma is one that we should never let go. When we let go of dharma we let go of the pursuit of truth, we let go of the opportunity to live a noble life, we let go of purpose in our life...and ultimately we let go of true understanding of life and what constitutes happiness.

[ratanasutra]

Giving up is an easy way out for people who want fast result or doesn't want to solve the problem.

We can give up in something but that doesn't mean that we can run away from it, instead it lead us to give up more on other thing after that as it become our habitual to just want easy way out and doesn't want to solve problem.

How many time we can run away and after that the same situation happen again and again as the root cause of problem still there. Instead of giving up we should put up more effort, patience, passion, love and care etc in doing it

If we giving up in secular things easily then we will carry the same habitual to spiritual path and this will be the main cause for us to not improve in the practice...

 

[yontenjamyang]

Big Uncle. Like you there are times that the thought of giving up has crossed my mind. It results from being unhappy at certain situations, being tired physically and mentally and missing time for myself. This applies both for worldly and dharma practice. But then, the thought, where do we run to comes to my mind. Without sounding too negatives; it is like "between the devil and the deep blue sea".
Then something click in my mind. We just need to change our perspectives and suddenly everything becomes rosy again. All the "giving up" is from from our self-cherishing mind. We grasp at ourselves and anything that doesn't "suit" us causes unhappiness. With this type of mind, we will be unhappy anywhere we go, doing anything and we will have any positive results.
So why not, if we can't intellectualize about it; "just do it'. Continue with what we do and put in the best effort. From experience, I have confirmation that this is the best strategy. No doubt until, such time that we are able to experience the "great bliss" as thai monk described, I find this the best way forward. At least we do not garner more unhappiness by giving up. Meanwhile we have some successes and some bliss. That tells me I am on the right path.

[rossoneri]

Find this very interesting.

When the Bodhisattva walks the Bodhisattva Path, he does what is very difficult. From an ordinary point of view, a Bodhisattva practicing the Bodhisattva Path appears quite foolish. If he were not, then why would he choose to undergo suffering himself in order to come and teach and transform living beings? But no matter what kind of suffering there is, he can endure it. He undergoes intense suffering even to the point of enduring the suffering due other living beings. If the Bodhisattva weren’t foolish, then why would he take such a big personal loss? He doesn’t benefit himself in anything he does. But that isn’t because he is foolish. A Bodhisattva has great wisdom. Because he has great wisdom, he wants to take across all living beings and cause all of them to have wisdom too. He wants to forsake himself for the sake of the multitudes. He forsakes his own small self in order to bring living beings’ great selves to realization. When you walk the Path of the Bodhisattva, you benefit yourself and you benefit others. In doing this you shouldn’t fear any kind of suffering...Moreover, the Bodhisattva thinks that:

To endure suffering is to end suffering.
To enjoy blessings is to exhaust blessings.

Because he thinks in that way, he undergoes suffering on behalf of living beings. He transfers all of his bliss to all living beings in the Dharma Realm. The merit from this kind of open and unselfish action is inexhaustible. It is completely public spirited, and it is intended for the benefit of all living beings.

So why do we have the urge of giving up so easily?