[SHpuntik]

I really apppreciate everyones advice

Thank you for your kind words David, its good to have you here.

[Heessduernbub]

I'm sorry for my delayed response. I guess I apologize too much.Thank you soundtrack that means a lot. That is probably the nicest thing anyone has ever said about me.

You are very welcome Aloka-D. I am glad to be welcome here.

[slimfifa]

If you're still interested in free books by Ajahn Sumedho, Dave, here are some (Thanks Aloka).

You can either download this handy software or install this Firefox add-on. Now you can open EPUB files on your computer and read free books all day! Yay.

[glasscollector]

Oh goodness yes of course you are not too bad or too this or too anything to be a follower of Buddhism. And no never think that you are asking too many questions there are no such things. The Buddha even said that friendship is the whole of the spiritual path for without your fellow peers how would you know if your doing something wrong or not?

It's like peer revision in english class. Buddha is very forgiving, he teaches us to forgive and to practice loving kindness even to "bad" or "evil" people. Everything is impermanent nothing is ever the same for even a fraction of a second. In fact you are not the same person, you are different from the person that cursed the Buddha. But if you changed and are asking forgiveness the Buddha would be more then happy to forgive you. I tell you a story, in fact I'll copy and paste the story that I read about someone who spit on the Buddha but later became his disciple.

" The Buddha was sitting under a tree talking to his disciples when a man came and spit on his face. He wiped it off, and he asked the man, “What next? What do you want to say next?” The man was a little puzzled because he himself never expected that when you spit on somebody’s face, he will ask, “What next?” He had no such experience in his past. He had insulted people and they had become angry and they had reacted. Or if they were cowards and weaklings, they had smiled, trying to bribe the man. But Buddha was like neither, he was not angry nor in any way offended, nor in any way cowardly. But just matter-of-factly he said, “What next?” There was no reaction on his part.

Buddha’s disciples became angry, they reacted. His closest disciple, Ananda, said, “This is too much, and we cannot tolerate it. He has to be punished for it. Otherwise everybody will start doing things like this.”

Buddha said, “You keep silent. He has not offended me, but you are offending me. He is new, a stranger. He must have heard from people something about me, that this man is an atheist, a dangerous man who is throwing people off their track, a revolutionary, a corrupter. And he may have formed some idea, a notion of me. He has not spit on me, he has spit on his notion. He has spit on his idea of me because he does not know me at all, so how can he spit on me?

“If you think on it deeply,” Buddha said, “he has spit on his own mind. I am not part of it, and I can see that this poor man must have something else to say because this is a way of saying something. Spitting is a way of saying something. There are moments when you feel that language is impotent: in deep love, in intense anger, in hate, in prayer. There are intense moments when language is impotent. Then you have to do something. When you are angry, intensely angry, you hit the person, you spit on him, you are saying something. I can understand him. He must have something more to say, that’s why I’m asking, “What next?”

The man was even more puzzled! And Buddha said to his disciples, “I am more offended by you because you know me, and you have lived for years with me, and still you react.”

Puzzled, confused, the man returned home. He could not sleep the whole night. When you see a Buddha, it is difficult, impossible to sleep again the way you used to sleep before. Again and again he was haunted by the experience. He could not explain it to himself, what had happened. He was trembling all over and perspiring. He had never come across such a man; he shattered his whole mind and his whole pattern, his whole past.

The next morning he was back there. He threw himself at Buddha’s feet. Buddha asked him again, “What next? This, too, is a way of saying something that cannot be said in language. When you come and touch my feet, you are saying something that cannot be said ordinarily, for which all words are a little narrow; it cannot be contained in them.” Buddha said, “Look, Ananda, this man is again here, he is saying something. This man is a man of deep emotions.”

The man looked at Buddha and said, “Forgive me for what I did yesterday.”

Buddha said, “Forgive? But I am not the same man to whom you did it. The Ganges goes on flowing, it is never the same Ganges again. Every man is a river. The man you spit upon is no longer here. I look just like him, but I am not the same, much has happened in these twenty-four hours! The river has flowed so much. So I cannot forgive you because I have no grudge against you.”

“And you also are new. I can see you are not the same man who came yesterday because that man was angry and he spit, whereas you are bowing at my feet, touching my feet. How can you be the same man? You are not the same man, so let us forget about it. Those two people, the man who spit and the man on whom he spit, both are no more. Come closer. Let us talk of something else.” See? As long as you can change for the better then what you were in the past doesn't matter. I hope that I helped you.

[M_Marked]

Thanks soundtrack. I will make use of that. I appreciate the help.

[Calluffence]

I'll copy and paste the story that I read about someone who spit on the Buddha but later became his disciple

Hi EagerStudent, welcome to the group.

As we are a learning community, can I ask that if you use quotes in your posts, that you also always give the source of the quote and also a URL link please.

Many thanks

Aloka-D

[Bletlemof]

EagerStudent, Thank you for the post. That helped me a whole lot.

[flielagit]

Whoops sorry about that Aloka-D I will do it right the next time, it's nice to be welcome thank you all very very much. And not a problem at all David

[Affolfembonge]

Thinking bad words happens to many people, not only you. I had this problem as well in the past.

1. The Bhudda practiced for a very long long time in the wheel of rebirth to be able to teach people to get out of this wheel of rebirth. He would not be angry on you at all. On the contrary, he would expect you (in fact, everyone) to follow him to get out of the wheel of rebirth.

2. Although he would not be angry on you, you are suffered already for your past thinking. So, please stay at present, whatever happened in the past, you have to let it go. It you rethink about it, your mind will repeat the similar feeling, and you will be suffered again and again. Not because of your past thinking, but because of thinking at present.

3. The bad words in your mind were not intentionally created by youself. But they occurred by themselves, and you cannot prohibit them. This is because your mind is not-self. If your mind is self, you will be able to order it to think only good words. But in reality you cannot do so. So, if this happens again, you should understand that those words come by their own, you do not say or support them. Although your mind says them, you do not say or support them. (because your mind is not self.) Then, you will gain more knowledge by seeing the truth of your mind that your mind is not permanent, and not-self. It changes by itssefl and you cannot control it.

4. Although we cannot control our mind, we can train it. If we always think and say good words, our mind will get familiar with them, and will rarely think about bad words. On the contrary, if we always think and say bad words, our mind will get familiar with them, and will easily think about bad words.