A little update after a long time
After much consideration, I have cancelled a planned trip to Sri Lanka due to safety concerns regarding the war in Iran. I have already changed airlines two times within a short time - both flights were transiting through Qatar and Abu Dhabi. Luckily I got my tickets refunded. Next time I will be planning my trip more carefully.
I was going to undertake a 10 day meditation course within my tradition in Theravada Buddhism. It was also going to be my first trip to Sri Lanka since coming to Denmark as a child.
Today Thursday is a public holiday in Greenland and Denmark. I took vacation on Friday with the purpose of following the Eight Precepts (Pali: attha-sila) on Friday and Saturday. I’m looking forward to deepening my practice. These precepts are such protective, meaningful, vehicles of freedom. They allow us to limit distractions and simulate monastic life. They protect against the objects that impinge on our sense faculties that if left unguarded can stir up latent defilements (Pali: anussaya kilesa) causing the mind to become cloudy, obscure and unwieldy - ultimately binding us to Samsara, as the defilements are the Kammic driving force behind the cycle of birth and death.
As laypeople the Eight Precepts allow us the protection to develop the clarity of mind to see reality as it is, to see the Three Marks of Existence (Pali: tilakkhaṇa), namely that all conditioned phenomena are impermanent, unable to satisfy us or lead to lasting happiness and that they’re uncontrollable, impersonal phenomena that incessantly arise and cease, according to their own causes and conditions. With persistent practice the clarity of mind will eventually become so strong and ever pervasive that it allows the mind to take Nibbana as an object and enter into cessation.
Nowadays the world is more unsafe and complex. Our time on earth is so short. A human life is rare and precious. The days and nights are relentlessly passing. We must spend our time well. Inner peace and true, lasting happiness is a lifelong commitment, it even spans lifetimes, but it’s well worth our time.
May all beings be well and happy and free from suffering.