Saturday, December 20, 2008
angulimala and karma
stole another hotel book today. a good one. and here's a confession. i've never stolen anything in my life- except hotel books on a few occassions . and by these i mean the bible and books on buddha's teachings and hindu holy books. i think hotels are probably glad someone steal these books and only too happy to replace them back. seems like nobody ever touch any of these. except people like me. i don't understand why hotel guests don't get interested in any of these books. to me the christian bible and the mahabharatas are some of the best ever fictions written by men. these guys must have eaten very high quality mushrooms while penning these phantasmagorical tales.
this time i nicked a little buddhist book titled simply as 'Karma' and the reason why i stole it was because i got sucked up by the first chapter that include a buddhist story of angulimala. a disturbing tale about a man that killed a thousand human lives and the only punishment he got was just a few kicks and sticks and stones thrown at him and yet when he died he attained parinivarna , the ultimate aim of (buddhist) life . this book went on to discuss if this is fair and the nature of karma. an interesting philosophical tract meant for general public written in very easy to understand conversational style.
although angulima looks like a puppy compared to bush , in one respect angulimala's story isn't very much unlike the now infamous bush shoe throwing incidence. bush is responsible for hundreds of thousands of death (not including a couple of thousands or so of his own people) and what did he get in return? a pair of size ten shoes thrown at him and the unforgettable words "this is a farewell kiss you dog!".
but unlike angulimala, bush has not shown any remorse for the crimes that he has commited (and still continue to commit) so i don't think he'll be attaining parinivarna anytime soon even if he's a buddhist and not even sure if he'll enter christian heaven when he dies.....
this time i nicked a little buddhist book titled simply as 'Karma' and the reason why i stole it was because i got sucked up by the first chapter that include a buddhist story of angulimala. a disturbing tale about a man that killed a thousand human lives and the only punishment he got was just a few kicks and sticks and stones thrown at him and yet when he died he attained parinivarna , the ultimate aim of (buddhist) life . this book went on to discuss if this is fair and the nature of karma. an interesting philosophical tract meant for general public written in very easy to understand conversational style.
although angulima looks like a puppy compared to bush , in one respect angulimala's story isn't very much unlike the now infamous bush shoe throwing incidence. bush is responsible for hundreds of thousands of death (not including a couple of thousands or so of his own people) and what did he get in return? a pair of size ten shoes thrown at him and the unforgettable words "this is a farewell kiss you dog!".
but unlike angulimala, bush has not shown any remorse for the crimes that he has commited (and still continue to commit) so i don't think he'll be attaining parinivarna anytime soon even if he's a buddhist and not even sure if he'll enter christian heaven when he dies.....
