Eyes are a window on the soul

Here is a story I was once told...

There was once a man who practised Hinduism very devoutly. Every day he would get onto his roof away from the busy streets below and meditate.

Next door to him was a woman who had 2 children. To support her children she was a prostitute.

The man sitting on his roof used to look down on her and complain to himself why he such a righteous person should have to live next to such a sinful person.

The prostitute on the other hand used to look up at the man and wish that she had the chance to be so good, but because of her children she was forced into her sinful life.

When it came to their deaths and judgements the righteous man was suprised to find himself in hell, and angered to discover that the woman had gone to heaven. She was sinful and me good, there must be some mistake.

It was explained that for his whole life he had held her bad ways in his heart, cursing and looking down on her; while she had only held his good ways in her heart.

This illustrates the greatest irony in life that the way we see the outer world is actually only what we let into our inner world and soul.

If we want to see the outer world as good we need only make that effort to see it as good, and if we do that we let a good light into our inner world.

If we chose to focus on the bad things and paint our picture of the world as bad, then we only let a bad light into our world and heart.

In Buddhism they say that the outer world is a reflection of our inner state, our inner imprints and karma. If we have a pure mind without distortions we will always be able to see the world in a positive way. If we have a dark heart with many hindrances we will be caught and dragged into seeing the world as bad.

Rather than see what is outside as a "projection" of what is inside, here it is revealed that it is upto us to makle the effort and chose which light we light our inner world with.

It can also be seen that the "inner" world is actually just "our experience of the outer world", and if we look for an "inner world" of substance "behind" the external world we find that there is no space for such a world. The world "behind us", the world which we imagine is the screen on which eyes project their image is actually just the "outer world as we experience it". In reality there is no "inner world" and there is no "outer world" as is usual to think, since both "inner and outer" refer to the same world.

Our daily life then is a process of working to improve our "view of the world", by looking for positives and turning off the negatives - this way we begin to fill our "inner world" with light rather than darkness.

If we think for a second there are clues that we hold the key to a positive world. When we are in a "bad mood" things look bad abd difficult, when we are in a "good mood" often the same things suddenly don't seem like such a problem. People with a positive view find no difficulty in things which a negative view can see as impossible and fearsome. A famous Chinese story illustrates.

Once there was a man with 2 daughters one sold umbrellas, one sold noodles. (Understand that noodles need to dry in the sun). A monk noticed the man was always unhappy and asked him why. He said that when it rains his noodle daughter has no trade, and when it is sunny his umbrella daughter has no trade. The monk simply pointed out that instead of seeing the negative, see the positive - rain or shine one of his daughters is bringing home money. This is the glass half empty, or half full.

Capitalism is a good example infact of negatives and positives being just a perspective. Whatever happens in the world it is an opportunity for someone, and sometimes a loss for someone else - it just depends who you are. My lab partner always points out when there is disaster that at least it is good trade for undertakers - tasteless joke, but some truth in it.