Right Thought is the volitional counterpart of right View. This refers to the motives behind your actions, as reflected in your thinking. It might better be understood as right purpose, motives or intentions, arising from personal or social values. The clearer you are about your values, the clearer your vision of life and your personal purpose. Once you have gained an intellectual understanding of the Interdependence cycle, you can begin to uncover your true inner nature, your values, vision and purpose.
According to the Buddhist concept, Right thought is a wholesome purpose, that is free from defilement and malevolent thought of sensual pleasure, hatred, ill will, violence or cruelty, known as " Akusala vitakka ".
In Buddhist term, defilement consists of 10 characteristics. They are greed, hatred, delusion, conceit, wrong view, uncertainty, sloth, restlessness, shamelessness and lack of moral dread. These characteristics are called the " The Dust on a Mirror " in the analogy of Zen Buddhism. The " dust " of conditioning accumulates on the surface of our " inherent wisdom ". mirror, yet with effort, the dust can be removed. One can learn t live increasingly at the level of the mirror itself, which means bringing out our inherent capacity to accurately reflect " things as they really are, " free from the distortions of emotional or cognitive bias.
According to the Buddhist concept, thought and action are correlated. James Allen's thoughts, under the influence of Buddhism, is obvious in his emphasis on " right thinking " :
We are the sum of our thoughts, noble thoughts make a noble person, and negative thoughts hammer out a miserable one. To a person mired in negativity, the world looks as if it is made of confusion and fear. On the other hand, when we curtail our negative and destructive thoughts, the entire world softens towards us. Good thoughts and actions can never produce bad results ; bad thoughts and actions can never produce good results.
Only lay people, especially in these days of materialistic life - style say : There is no particular relationship between thought and action - It's all - random. Even some Buddhists say that :
" we are just a biophysical system and our consciousness is part of that system, so when we die, that's it, everything comes to an end. Therefore, let's just eat, drink, and be merry ".
This hedonistic attitude is very prevent in the new generation of modern society and is activity reinforced in the consumer driven mass media. According to tradition Buddhist values, however, this viewpoint is nihilist.
The Buddha says :
" All that we is the result of what we have thought. It is founded on our thoughts and made up of our thoughts. If we speak or act with an evil thought, sinful suffering follows us as a wheel follows the hoof of the ox that draws the cart. If we speak or act with a good thought, meritorious happiness follows us like a shadow that never leaves.
By THE BUDDHA'S Core Teachings
No comments:
Post a Comment