08 Jul 8 incredible lessons on wisdom from 8 incredible people
Happiness is…learning from the best!
And the 8 people referred to in this Buddhaimonia article are certainly some of the best.
So read on, learn about wisdom and happiness, and then go forward and live your best possible life…
by Matt Valentine
It’s hard for me to think back to the way my life was before the internet. I know a lot of people can relate with that.
I don’t just say this because of Buddhaimonia, I say this mostly because of my own spiritual path.
It wasn’t through getting some special education, or special training, at a monastery with a long and ancient history.
It was through the internet that I met these wise sages.
And you know what? I’m far from alone. And so happy it happened that way, because it means I can relate.
Nowadays, more people are introduced to just about everything in the world through the internet than they are through other more traditional (directly verbal or printed) means, and this includes spirituality, meditation, and anything included within that.
There was a time when I wanted to shy away from that, when I didn’t really like the fact that all I had was the internet to learn from.
But it’s been a while since then, and my practice has developed (and so has the internet evolved), and with that I’ve learned that the internet has been, and will continue to be, one of the greatest gifts we’ve ever received.
It’s something which will allow many of us to develop a mindfulness, meditation, or general spiritual practice of some kind when otherwise we’d have no access to true reputable teachers to do so.
And that is a beautiful thing.
8 Pieces of Wisdom from 8 of the Greatest Living Sages
Sometime ago, I wrote a post titled 8 Pieces of Wisdom from 8 Enlightened Sages.
You guys really enjoyed that post and got a lot from it. But the one problem with the post was, while there’s so much to get from past teachers, none of them are alive any longer.
That’s not all bad, we can still learn so much from them through the writing and teachings they left behind.
But, that does hold us back for two reasons:
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Modern life brings its own specific challenges, challenges that a teacher who is alive today can help teach us how to overcome.
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We can only learn so much from those no longer alive. Those teachers who are alive today we can continue to learn from day after day, as they give lectures, write books, and connect with and teach their followers in various ways.
It’s for these two reasons that I wanted to highlight some of the greatest living teachers today. These are the teachers I’ve most associated with on my path, along with an important insight I’ve received from each of them, and I hope that they can be of help to you in your path as well.
1. Everything is “interbeing” in every moment – Thich Nhat Hanh
Thich Nhat Hanh is one of the most well-known Buddhist figures in the world (one of the most well-known spiritual figures of any kind at that), and someone whom I have a deep appreciation for.
Thich Nhat Hanh has taught me a lot, but few things as powerful as “interbeing”.
Interbeing is the true nature of all things. It’s in a way the opposite “aspect” of the Buddhist emptiness (but explaining the same principle), and for those that aren’t familiar with Buddhist terminology is a far more welcoming word (“emptiness” sounds bad in the West, and the term has often been misunderstood).
Interbeing is our nature in every moment. In every moment, we’re not only interconnected but altogether interdependent.
There is no separating you and me, you and the clouds, the rain, the trees, and the ocean.
When you look deeply, you can see that everything is interbeing in every moment.
This is a deep teaching that can take a lifetime to fully realize, but you can begin realizing this principle in your daily life right now.
When you finish reading this article, take a moment to look around you and think deeply about the way that all things co-exist.
As Thich Nhat Hanh says:
“If you are a poet, you will see clearly that there is a cloud floating in this sheet of paper. Without a cloud, there will be no rain; without rain, the trees cannot grow: and without trees, we cannot make paper. The cloud is essential for the paper to exist. If the cloud is not here, the sheet of paper cannot be here either. So we can say that the cloud and the paper inter-are.
Interbeing” is a word that is not in the dictionary yet, but if we combine the prefix “inter” with the verb “to be”, we have a new verb, inter-be. Without a cloud, we cannot have paper, so we can say that the cloud and the sheet of paper inter-are.
If we look into this sheet of paper even more deeply, we can see the sunshine in it. If the sunshine is not there, the forest cannot grow. In fact nothing can grow. Even we cannot grow without sunshine. And so, we know that the sunshine is also in this sheet of paper. The paper and the sunshine inter-are. And if we continue to look we can see the logger who cut the tree and brought it to the mill to be transformed into paper. And we see the wheat. We know that the logger cannot exist without his daily bread, and therefore the wheat that became his bread is also in this sheet of paper. And the logger’s father and mother are in it too. When we look in this way we see that without all of these things, this sheet of paper cannot exist.”
…enjoying this? Well there's so much more in the full & original article you can find HERE