Aftermath (taken by a seamless vision) Spain is pain

Under a blood red painted sky


3 January 2008, 20:16 by Zelkova @ Quotations

My main New Year’s Resolution: experience the Ten Words in all their intensity, being totally aware of them. All good and evil, like life itself.


The Ten Words, or Ten States of Life, an absolutely fundamental principle of Buddhism, teaches that everybody possesses ten basic inner states of being which we all experience from moment to moment. Briefly, these Ten Words are Hell, Hunger, Animality, Anger, Tranquillity, Rapture, Learning, Realization, Bodhisattva and Buddhahood.

To explain a little further, Hell is the state of suffering; Hunger is the state of being under the sway of desires; Animality is the state of instinctive behaviour; and Anger is the state of constant competition or conflict, in which one tries arrogantly to surpass others. The first three are called the Three Evil Paths and, together with Anger, comprise the Four Evil Paths – varying conditions of unhappiness.

Tranquillity is the neutral state of peace and calm, and Rapture is the state of being temporarily overjoyed at the gratification of a desire. The six states from Hell to Rapture are called the Six Paths and arise spontaneously in our lives when prompted by external factors. In contrast, the four remaining words, called the Four Noble Paths, are characterized by the inner effort it takes to manifest them.

The state of Learning is that in which we learn something from the teachings of others, while the state of Realization is that in which we come to some partial understanding of life, however great or small, through our own efforts and observations. Bodhisattva is the state of altruism – of finding joy through helping others; and, finally the state of Buddhahood is defined as absolute happiness and is attained only as the result of the actions we take when in the state of Bodhisattva.


Richard Causton, The Buddha in daily life (1995)



#1· M
7 January 2008, 18:42

Ese libro es de la parte sur-oeste de España…. De Huelva para más señas….

#2· Zelkova
7 January 2008, 18:47

Podías pillarme uno (prometo pagarlo) ya que estás por allí, perra, aquí no se encuentra ni de broma y en Amazon a duras penas. Pregúntale a J dónde lo compró y así te devuelvo el tuyo. Porque si no me temo que hasta que no acabe la opo allá por verano y me lo lea, ná de ná...


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