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TEACHINGS | EASTERN HORIZON 7

I went on to explain to him that living a worthwhile life social event to another. Don’t think that being able to
does not mean being the busiest of the busy. Living a impress other people with you money, possessions,
worthwhile life depends on what we do with our mind. or social status is a qualification of a meaningful life.
Even if our body is incapacitated, if we use our heart Sometimes, we may have a lot of things to show for our
and our mind to practice the Dharma, our life becomes efforts on the outside, but in the process of doing these
very beneficial. We don’t need to be healthy to practice things, we created a lot of negative karma by lying,
the Dharma. cheating, and so forth. That negative karma is not a
useful product of our life.
It might be easier to practice if we are healthy, but still,
if you’re sick, you use whatever time and energy you On the other hand, we could be sick and lying in bed,
have to practice, to generate wisdom and compassion. but if we use our mind to create positive karma, that
Even if you can’t sit up straight, or you’re lying on the will become the cause for good rebirths and bring us
bed, or you’re sleeping a lot, you can still think kind closer to liberation and enlightenment.
thoughts. You can still contemplate the nature of reality.
You can still think about karma. You can still take Don’t underestimate the power of the mind. The mind
refuge in the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha. There’s a lot is really very powerful. Even if you’re sick, just the
that you can do even when you are sick. And that makes power of the compassionate and kind thoughts that you
your life very meaningful. generate can influence the people around you. EH

Don’t think your life is meaningful just because you
are running around making widgets or going from one

Are you searching for a spiritually challenging work?

Do you enjoy meeting fellow Dharma practitioners, Buddhist leaders, and Dharma
masters? Would you like to introduce the latest Buddhist book you read recently?
How about researching into the latest web-sites on Buddhist activities around the
world? And of course, what about telling us how you first came in contact with
the dharma and what the dharma means to you today. Well, if you find all of these
interesting, we can make it spiritually challenging for you too!

In every issue of EASTERN HORIZON, we publish special chat sessions with leading
Buddhist personalities, essays on all aspects of Buddhism, book reviews, and news
and activities that are of interest to the Buddhist community. We need someone
to help us in all these projects. If you are keen to be part of this exciting magazine,
please e-mail to the editor at Bennyliow@gmail.com, and we will put you in touch
with what’s challenging for the next issue!
Let us share the dharma for the benefit of all sentient beings!