How to be more hopeful .... (trigger warning)

[Shoshin]

(TRIGGER WARNING)

I used to wake up with a gatha that, translated into English, would say "bla bla bla ...wonderful new day... bla bla bla".
Now I cannot say that anymore. I changed it for "...miraculous new day..."
I cannot find in me the belief that each day is a "wonderful day". My personal life is great. But the world around me... is so full of pain and suffering that I cannot believe that any day is a wonderful day.
But I know, I believe, that if I want to contribute to make this world a little more peaceful, a little more joyful, I need to find some more inner peace.
And more hope and faith (I don't mean "faith" in the sense of believing, but I mean the faith that, for example, drags us to to zafu the days that we don't feel like sitting)

I often think of Thich Nhat Hann. He lived extreme situations and witnessed much more pain and cruelty and suffering than most people on the planet And yet he had this amazing capacity to believe that life is a wonderful gift. He turned his experiences into a profound compassion and willingness to contribute for a better world.
I hope I can get eventually a fraction of his compassion and strengh.

How can I develop more faith and more trust and hope?

Gassho,
Satlah

[Bion]

It is absolutely normal someone would get to a point where hope seems far gone. I think keeping the teaching of the Buddha front and center is essential to not give in to despair. The Buddha advised us to never forget that everything we care for will eventually be taken away from us, because everything is impermanent. Looking at that with the eyes of a Buddha makes everything so much more precious. If it is not yet taken away from me, I am free to make something wonderful out of it. If the only reliable fact, as Nishijima Roshi called it, is the action in this present moment, then truly this very moment is monumental, because it is THE ONLY moment. So, as long as I am alive, breathing and aware, this moment, with all its characteristics is truly wonderful if I act it out in a wonderful way.
Hope that offers at least a bit of a brighter outlook.

Apologies for running a bit long.

Gassho
sat lah

[Houzan]

More faith, more trust, and more hope. Is this craving? The present moment is what it is, and though it may not always be wonderful, it is always full of wonder

Gassho, Hōzan
satlah

[IanSmith]

Here's a longer version on what Bion was pointing out.

https://contextualscience.org/blog/abandoning_hope

By the way it was lovely to sit with you the other morning.
Gassho
Ian
Sat today Lah

[Junsho]

Hi Shoshin,

I was thinking about this another day.

There are many people in the world in trouble in misery of money, love or both. Here in Europe, as I can see, different of my country of origin that the poverty is everywhere, the biggest problem is that people lack friends, somebody to hear their problems and give to them a shoulder providing compassion "karuna" and joy "mudita".

For this reason, even though I am not Christian, I usually follow the teachings of Mother Theresa Calcutta. She once said:

"The greatest disease in the West today is not tuberculosis or leprosy; it is being unwanted, unloved, and uncared for. We can cure physical diseases with medicine, but the only cure for loneliness, despair, and hopelessness is love. There are many in the world who are dying for a piece of bread, but there are many more dying for a little love."

In reality it is impossible to help everyone, instead I believe that the best way is try to help people around you. If everybody do a little bit, we can make a big difference. Doesn't need much effort and little actions that you do can help a lot.

For example, certain day I went to a Shopping center and ordered a Pizza. I saw that I was unable to eat everything, I had 4 pieces (that I could take home or trash). Instead, I look an old man and offered a Pizza to him. He was hungry (looking something to eat in the garbage) and he was very happy to receive some fresh pizza. However, even hungry like he was, he call his friend to share with him.

This action, was very simple and did not made me more poor or more noble, but I brought happiness for 2 people and I was able to practice karuna. As well, he also practice karuna too calling a friend to share the pizza with him.

Another good way, and this is the thing that I do quite often is to offer your ears to hear people problems, offer advices or even call them to sit (to calm their mind) with you, if they want of course.

Unfortunately, It is not always that I can help sometimes I see people in trouble and I am also unable to do something. For this people, I pray and sit hoping for a less suffering in this world.

Gassho!
SatLah

[Hosai]

In Zen (and Buddhism more broadly), both hope and fear can be seen as forms of attachment, binding us to expectations and preventing us from fully experiencing the present moment. Hope clings to a desired outcome, while fear resists an undesirable one. From this perspective, transcending both hope and fear means resting in equanimity, accepting whatever arises without grasping or aversion.

There's just always something that seems insufficient and lacking... Hope and fear look to the future.... Right here right now there is neither...

“If there is a remedy, then what is the use of worry? If there is no remedy, then what is the use of worry?” - Shantideva

(of course, a lot easier said than believed)...

_/\_
sat/ah
hōsai

[Junsho]

In Zen (and Buddhism more broadly), both hope and fear can be seen as forms of attachment, binding us to expectations and preventing us from fully experiencing the present moment. Hope clings to a desired outcome, while fear resists an undesirable one. From this perspective, transcending both hope and fear means resting in equanimity, accepting whatever arises without grasping or aversion.

There's just always something that seems insufficient and lacking... Hope and fear look to the future.... Right here right now there is neither...

“If there is a remedy, then what is the use of worry? If there is no remedy, then what is the use of worry?” - Shantideva

(of course, a lot easier said than believed)...

_/\_
sat/ah
hōsai

I am not sure if transcending hope can help other living beings. Nobody can sit properly suffering starvation or sickness. Seems to me that Equanimity doesn't nullify the fact to feel compassion for other beings.

Gassho!
SatLah

[Hosai]

I am not sure if transcending hope can help to much other living beings. Nobody can sit properly suffering starvation or sickness. Act with Equanimity doesn't nullify the compassion for other beings.

I agree it can be very difficult to explain to someone on their deathbed that they have nothing to worry about when they die as there was no unchanging entity called a "self" that ever was born.

_/\_
sat/ah
hōsai

[Seiko]

(TRIGGER WARNING)

I used to wake up with a gatha that, translated into English, would say "bla bla bla ...wonderful new day... bla bla bla".
Now I cannot say that anymore. I changed it for "...miraculous new day..."
I cannot find in me the belief that each day is a "wonderful day". My personal life is great. But the world around me... is so full of pain and suffering that I cannot believe that any day is a wonderful day.
But I know, I believe, that if I want to contribute to make this world a little more peaceful, a little more joyful, I need to find some more inner peace.
And more hope and faith (I don't mean "faith" in the sense of believing, but I mean the faith that, for example, drags us to to zafu the days that we don't feel like sitting)

I often think of Thich Nhat Hann. He lived extreme situations and witnessed much more pain and cruelty and suffering than most people on the planet And yet he had this amazing capacity to believe that life is a wonderful gift. He turned his experiences into a profound compassion and willingness to contribute for a better world.
I hope I can get eventually a fraction of his compassion and strengh.

How can I develop more faith and more trust and hope?

Gassho,
Satlah

If we are talking miracles, every day I am surprised to wake up alive! It really is wonderful!

In this world opposites exist, life-death, happiness-misery. It is good and right to do whatever we each can to alleviate this suffering, whilst still remembering in an absolute sense, that all of this is empty/whole. The absolute and relative existing simultaneously.

Please take my comments with a pinch of salt, I am just a novice here, not a teacher.

Gasshō, Seiko, stlah

[Onsho]

How can I develop more faith and more trust and hope?

Hey Shoshin!

In the event that a pep talk or a change of perspective isn’t what you are after, I have a long term solution that you need to work at, earn, develop ect. Its a work book that is held in very high esteem by the psychology world today.

https://www.indigo.ca/en-ca/the-queer-and-transgender-resilience-workbook-skills-for-navigating-sexual-orientation-and-gender-expression/9781626259461.html

Hope uses the same part of your brain as inspiration, and they can be be piggy backed off one another for a quick pick me up. The source of it comes down to your personal resilience though. Me and my fiancee are doing this workbook as a weekly book club with one another. Starting the book, I felt pretty resilient and didn’t think I would be getting much from it and I was VERY WRONG. In short, putting in an effort to develop your resilience with a proven system will definitely increase your capacity for hope and once learned, you have that for life. I have learned a lot about how to care for others with this workbook too.

Feel free to reach out if you have any questions

Gassho,
Onsho
satlah

[Shoshin]

Thanks, Bion, Houzan , IanSmith , Junsho , Hosai , Seiko and Onsho

Let me explain myself a bit better:
By "hope" I meant the trust that what we do is meaningful, also the trust that there is another reality beyond suffering.
By "hope" I also meant the energy that allow us to witness suffering and still be able not to become paralized. The kind of trust that help us to show compassion and equanimity even in the face of atrocities.
I think it's the same kind of hope (or trust, faith, whatever we choose to call it) that makes us get out of bed every morning. But the amount of hope needed to face a boring day in the office is different than the amount of hope needed to bear witness to some tragedies, even just to witness them by reading the news..
And I think that this kind of hope is necessary to put ourselves in situations full of suffering and pain, to bear witness to this situations and still remain balanced and capable of helping alleviate this suffering.
So, the "Reality" (R) may be that everything is impermanent, and that even the most terrible moment is a miracle. At the same time there is a "reality" (r) in which there are human and non human animals suffering and it's natural (and actually it's in our vows) to want to help alleviate this suffering. But if we believe that what we do is meaningless or if witnessing pain and suffering turns into dispair and inaction, we become unable to help alleviate the very suffering that has paralized us.

I believe that our practice can help us develop this kind of hope that I'm talking about. And I believe that you all meant exactly this. But how to integrate it, how to really absorve it?.
Maybe the answer is : Just sit! But if there is anything else that I can do (practices, readings, whatever...), I'd like to put it into practice ...
I'll definitely check this book out, Onsho , thanks!


Thanks again!

Gassho,
Satlah

[Shoshin]

Hey Shoshin!

In the event that a pep talk or a change of perspective isn’t what you are after, I have a long term solution that you need to work at, earn, develop ect. Its a work book that is held in very high esteem by the psychology world today.

https://www.indigo.ca/en-ca/the-queer-and-transgender-resilience-workbook-skills-for-navigating-sexual-orientation-and-gender-expression/9781626259461.html

Hope uses the same part of your brain as inspiration, and they can be be piggy backed off one another for a quick pick me up. The source of it comes down to your personal resilience though. Me and my fiancee are doing this workbook as a weekly book club with one another. Starting the book, I felt pretty resilient and didn’t think I would be getting much from it and I was VERY WRONG. In short, putting in an effort to develop your resilience with a proven system will definitely increase your capacity for hope and once learned, you have that for life. I have learned a lot about how to care for others with this workbook too.

Feel free to reach out if you have any questions

Gassho,
Onsho
satlah

I actually just bought the book

Gassho,
Satlah

[Bion]

Thanks, Bion, Houzan , IanSmith , Junsho , Hosai , Seiko and Onsho

I believe that our practice can help us develop this kind of hope that I'm talking about. And I believe that you all meant exactly this. But how to integrate it, how to really absorve it?.
Maybe the answer is : Just sit! But if there is anything else that I can do (practices, readings, whatever...), I'd like to put it into practice ...

Gassho,
Satlah

You mention you want assurance that what we do is meaningful.
Our practice IS the doing, the kind action, the compassionate action, the good deed and it is meaningful because it is the entirety of reality functioning as us here and now. When in this moment one acts out compassion, that is fully a compassionate act. That's as far as we can reach. We cannot control the ripples of karma, so we can't know all the results of our actions, and much less can we control them, but we trust, or have faith, that the full function of the Universe is realized as this kind action we perform. Being attached to the ideas of what we want to accomplish, or what we should accomplish, being attached to the idea that we want our actions to have a permanent effect leads to suffering. The suffering of not being content. The only reliable fact is what one does right now. So, each moment of kindness or compassionate action, proves through and through the efficiency of acting out compassion or kindness, because one actualizes it.. Whatever one THINKS about accomplishing, is still in the realm of illusion, so if I'm thinking really hard about all the good I can bring into existence at some point, to some beings, in some place, if I make plans and set goals, it is still not the reality of action right now. Armed with this knowledge, or understanding, it might be easier to see how important it is that we teach others how to put in place the causes necessary to be happy and at ease. My good action will meet some other good action and some other etc... Like we recite in the preface of the Brahma's Net Sutra: "drops of water, though tiny, gradually fill a large basin."
How can one not be hopeful then?

Sorry for the very long text here... Apologies also for maybe not expressing things too skillfully.

Gassho
sat lah

[Onsho]

I actually just bought the book

Oh that’s great!

If you are able to do any of the sections with a friend or loved one, I would really recommend it. The exercises are solid talking points for meaningful conversations and you can really multiply your insight through other peoples experiences. When you get into it, would love to hear how its going!

Gassho,
Onsho
satlah

[Shoshin]

Oh that’s great!

If you are able to do any of the sections with a friend or loved one, I would really recommend it. The exercises are solid talking points for meaningful conversations and you can really multiply your insight through other peoples experiences. When you get into it, would love to hear how its going!

Gassho,
Onsho
satlah

Oki! I'll ask my husband to do it with me.

Yes, I'll love to share with you how I'm doing with it

Gassho
Satlah