271-The truth about elephants- Buddhism in daily life

The truth about elephants

What is as big as an elephant, looks like an elephant, but weighs nothing?

That's right, its shadow!

Our thoughts are like shadows. Our ego paints us pictures, makes us believe things, shows us movies.

These can seem (at first sight) like real, but they are NOT. We see these films and pictures, we are flooded with thoughts, but these are without content, they are illusions, they are shadows.

Buddha taught us to turn off the thoughts, to "defeat" the ego, to find peace, to stop desiring, wishing and clinging, only in this way can we begin the journey to enlightenment.

We must learn to distinguish between the elephant and its shadow, to cultivate good thoughts, to "push away" bad ones.

What are good thoughts, and what are bad thoughts?

Good thoughts are active thoughts. Bad thoughts are concerns or wishful thinking formulated by the ego.

For example, planning for the next child's birthday party would be good and important, but our ego's terrible ideas (what could go wrong?) are wrong and negative.

The main part of our thoughts come only from our ego. Is she cheating on me, does he still love me, will we make ends meet, will I lose my job, what is that twinge in my stomach, am I sick?

All nonsense, bullshit played by the ego, unnecessary, counterproductive, harmful, a SHADOW lays on the mind, immediately the mood becomes gloomy, we become depressed, melancholic, our life is at the mercy of the whims of our ego.

Paradise is nothing else than a state of mind, exclusively dependent on our personal perception, heaven and hell are two sides of the same coin, only I am the master of my thoughts, I can determine my ego, "choose" and "control" the images and the movies in my head, just as the great teacher Buddha has exemplified it to us, go his way as well, awaken, "banish" these very images and movies from our thoughts, thus begin the journey to personal "enlightenment".

If "bad" thoughts appear in our head cinema, we must immediately stop them, mentally slap our fingers, and put something "positive" in the place of the bad thoughts. Here it offers itself to think immediately about the personal awakening, to focus the own way to the freedom from desire and wishes, to check any "clinging", thus to create a positive substitute for the negative sensations.

The shadow of an elephant may be big, but it remains a shadow, it has no substance, not even for a small moment!

Who can cast a beautiful shadow, does not pay attention to the shadow but to the body

- Lü Buwei - Chinese philosopher - 300 to 336 before the year zero

Take your shadow from me

- Diogenes of Sinope - Greek philosopher - 404 to 322 before the year zero

Even a hair has its shadow

- Publilius Syrus - Roman poet - 1st century before the year zero

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