Hi Saturn!  Nice to hear from you again - it's been a while.  I'm sorry to hear you're having troubles at school, but glad to hear you're still working there.   I, too, sometimes have trouble reconciling my practise with the reality of teaching and have struggled with it for a few years.  What I've found helpful is focusing on the broader tenets of the Noble Eightfold Path, specifically Right Action, Right Speech, Right Livelihood and Right Effort.  Generally, I try to make sure that what I think, say and do is done from the perspective of the dharma, so as to be beneficial to all.  It's amazing how even the most irritating of adolescents will respond positively to that when applied consistently.  Likewise, the faculty will come to see such behaviour as dignified, honourable and trustworthy so they will regard you more favourably too.  It's not always easy and I've blown it many times over, but it is a goal to strive for and it does make a difference.  If you are in need of a good, succinct translation of the N8P, try here: www.beyondthenet.net/dhamma/nobleEight.h....

I wish you well in your work and practise.

Peace,

hh

Nice to hear from you too happy_hotei!  I still struggle with the path.  It's still the one that seems best for me, however.   Thanks for the link.  You reminded me, the path is not just about the precepts.  There are other teachings as well.  I do my best to use Right Speech both with the students and facaulty.  For the most part I feel I am repsected.  There are a few, however, that just the mention of their names brings me anxiety.   At any rate, I hope you are well.  It's nice to know there are a few people I still know around here.

Thanks to you also Bhakta_glenn.  Your links will be helpful to me also.

Peace and Compassion

Jun 8, 2009 -- 8:28PM, Saturn88 wrote:

I have no teacher that I can go to, so I come here from time to time.  I'm having a hard time living the precepts in the realm of "real life".  Specifically, how do I relate to people with whom I can not trust.  How can I stay at peace and in the moment when I feel the need to guard myself against people I work with, including my immediate supervisor.  I work in a school and my supervisor plotted to get a teacher fired earlier in the year.  I believe in the precepts.  I also believe my supervisor can be a real threat.  Thank you. 

Strictly speaking I'm not a Buddhist, but this is an issue I can relate to; how to live my spirituality even when the society I live in is not conducive to any principles or practices I have.

There's a question that goes "How can a moral person stay moral in an immoral world?"

In a sense it is society's problem that it cannot accept the precepts. Your problem, perhaps, is not that you aren't able to follow the precepts but that the situation your in won't accept the precepts. Is there a way to change your situation?

I believe that the spiritual path is not something that the individual is involved in but something the whole universe is involved in. As an individual I am a part of the universe. In a way, difficulties in following the precepts, whether internal or external, are part of a spiritual journey.

Resolving the issue of how to be able to be spiritual in an unspiritual society is a part of the individual's spiritual journey and also that of society.

I see no conflict in the precepts where dealing with your supervisor is concerned.  If this person is inappropriately using their position to create an atmosphere of distrust and fear.  If you were walking down a path with your coworkers and you saw a tiger, would you not say, "Look, a tiger!"  It would be as I see it, an act of greater compassion to help this person to either learn to be  less adversarial or to encourage them to seek employment elsewhere.  Any person who works in Education who cannot work and play well with others,  for the good of all involved, should not be tolerated.  A nicely worded note to the school board or to this person's boss may help.  If there is not a policy in place to help in such cases, perhaps there should be.

Hi SS, welcome to Bnet. I see that this is your first post. :)

For those of us who aren't familiar with Tibetan Buddhism, could you explain a little about wrathful sat gurus?

Also, how does this practice work for you? Does it quiet that powerful urge to defend ourselves against things we're afraid of?