Kindness

I saw this quote today:

The Dalai Lama always says:

"My religion is very simple. My religion is kindness."

The quote totally made me smile since I teach Taoism in terms of: Kindness. It's the one common thread of all my dialogues.

Religion doesn't have to be hard, follow your heart. Of course following one's heart when the heart is lost, can be challenging process.

To find heart, follow kindness.

The trouble comes when a few people try to control many. Kindness can never be truly used to control others. So instead too many leaders (religious and political) use unkind tactics for purposes of control. Hence, you find fear, conflict, forced conversion, segregation and so many other unkind tactics to force others to follow doctrine or laws. Such tactics are always self defeating since in being unkind, they harm the very person inflicting them. (But often this is only apparent in the long view of things, so kindness is tempered by patience)

• Ask yourself: Am I living kindly? Do I treat others with Kindness? That is, do I treat others as if they share the same essence of life as myself?
  
  If not then ask why not?
  
  
• Examine any leader's actions and ask are they Kind? That is, do they treat others as equals?
  
  If not then ask why not?
  

I suspect in digging, the reasons for any unkind act are towards trying to control something in an unbalanced manner. As a result all unkind actions will always create unbalanced situations.

If you are stuck, if you are trying to solve a problem that always seems to spin out of control, or if everything you try fails... Relook at the problem and try instead to use kindness in how actions are applied.

Remember Kindness is not: to always be nice.

Kindness is to treat everything in respect and as part of the same essence as yourself.

This is why applying kindness is such a difficult process to grasp. Kindness requires balanced actions.

To always be perfectly nice is as unbalanced as being always terrible.



More importantly, it's possible to retake what the Dali Lama says and state it this way

"My religion is very human

My religion is kindness."

In being human: it's a personal choice if we make it complicated or simple.

So many people are in awe of the Dali Lama becuase he chooses to make it simple. But the real point: It's a personal choice...

It's in every person's grasp to choose simple... So remember when you are tired of making it complicated, try simple for a change of pace.

Release making it hard... and live simply...

(This is another part of Taoism: teaching release paired to kindness)

Namaste