2015 Budget Proposals Have Been Defeated At The Ambilipitiya Urban Council

The 2015 budget proposals submitted to the  government controlled Ambilipitiya (Sabaragamuwa Province)Urban Council have been defeated today(16) as all the five government MP's in   the council have been refrained from voting during the vote.

The governing United Peoples Freedom Alliance(UPFA) having 5 MP's at the urban council while the opposition United National Party (UNP)is having 2 MP's.During the voting 2 opposition MP's have  voted against the budget proposals while all governing party MP's have refrained from voting.

THE THOUGHT OF THE DAY TO YOUR LIFE FROM BUDDHISM (SOURCE-METTA REFUGE SITE)

When we hurt others, and our conscience is awake, we suffer. While having a conscience is good, the Buddha is all about the ending of suffering, right? So, what do we do?

How do we free ourselves of a victimizer suffering?

Reflect on the truth that we are deluded.

Remember we have acted out of a mistake arising from our primal ignorance and that therefore we are at heart innocent. This allows us to forgive ourselves.

It is necessary to take on our proper responsibility for the role we played.

We need to accept our part in the process of ‘causing’ that pain, of being a catalyst. For instance, once we know how to press someone’s buttons, we can use it to control, to spite them and to enjoy ourselves! Because harm comes as a result of our behavior, we need to accept our share of the responsibility – the more so if the person is not in control of their behavior, such as a child.

However, we must be careful not to take on false guilt.

Just as it is true for us, so it is true for others. Each of us is responsible for our own psychological pain, even those we have harmed.

We must make resolutions not to behave in a similar way again.

Resolutions can be dangerous things! Sometimes we overestimate what we are capable of, in which case we need to be realistic and revise our resolutions.

Because our behavior patterns are deeply ingrained, we will necessarily make the same mistakes over and over. So we need to accept that the process will have to be repeated and repeated and repeated. Slowly, if this is done with an earnest heart, our habits are lessened and they will eventually die away.

We have to sit in the midst of the flames we have caused in our own hearts.

This is the psychotherapeutic process of vipassana insight meditation. Again we must be careful not to indulge in fantasy, but as soon as the mind has wandered into thought patterns around shame, guilt and remorse, we need to bring ourselves back to just those emotions as felt in the body and sit patiently with them. Accept unreservedly that this suffering is a proper consequence of unskilful action. So we must learn to sit patiently amidst the flames.

At an insight level, we begin to realise that we cannot fool our hearts. Whenever we do harm, these mental states of shame, guilt and remorse will arise. Eventually they become automatic reminders of potential suffering as soon as any unskilful thought or desire arises. In this way they become our guardians.

It is true that all feelings of shame, guilt and remorse are unwholesome. A liberated person would not feel such states. However, if we do not look upon them as teachers, we will experience them as punishment which will make us the more bitter.

Common Opposition Expressed Displeasure Over Not Removing Political Cutouts And Banners

The common opposition has today(14) claimed that despite the orders of Elections Commissioner Mahinda Deshapriya to the police to remove all the political cutouts and banners related to the upcoming presidential elections displayed in cities,still a large number of such cutouts and pandals have been openly display in most parts of the country.

According to the opposition around 1000 political cutouts and 12 pandals of incumbent president are being  displayed  in Maharagama City alone.Although the elections commissioner have been instructed the Police to remove all these cutouts with immediate effect ,Police have not taken any action in this regard up to now the Opposition Parties have charged.

Meanwhile the common opposition has today requested from the elections commissioner to remove all digital billboards on roadsides and to stop telecasting live coverage of rallies attended by the ruling party leaders as it's a violation of the election law.

Addressing a media briefing held in Colombo today the  former minister of Hela Urumaya Party Patali Champika Ranawake has said that the presidential elections campaign had turned worse with increasing trend of violence.

A THOUGHT OF THE DAY TO YOUR LIFE FROM BUDDHISM (SOURCE METTA SITE)

Simply watch yourself. Be aware. Notice how you react with others. Try to bring clarity of attention to all your interactions, and try to perceive which of your buttons is being pushed. Notice the habitual, reflexive, and often unconscious reactions arising. Name them, and let them go. See if by so doing, you can create a more spacious and open approach to your relationships with others. See if you can become more skillful, intelligent, and even-handed. Doing this doesn't mean that you will never again get angry or resentful; it does mean that you can channel emotions like anger and resentment more effectively.

1. NOTICE WHAT YOU ARE FEELING

Don't deny or bury what you are feeling. Simply notice each feeling that arises and call it by its name — anger, pride, jealousy, covetousness, lustful desire, irritation, or annoyance for example.

2. RATHER THAN REJECTING IT, EMBRACE IT WITH AWARENESS

Recognize the feeling for what it is - simply a feeling that is arising. Don't get angry at yourself or the feeling, but don't let it take over and carry you away.

3. USE DISCRIMINATING AWARENESS TO REFLECT ON WHAT YOU ARE FEELING

  Analyze and examine the feeling. Are you having a knee-jerk reaction? Is your feeling justified? (Perhaps it is a reasonable response.)

4. BEHAVE IN AN INTENTIONAL AND WISE MANNER

Make a wise decision about how to react to what you are feeling at the moment. Remember that no matter how strong your feeling is, nothing remains the same. The feeling will change, and another will take its place. With that in mind, take the long view; use spiritual intelligence and an understanding of kamma to make an appropriate choice about how to act.

When we handle our feelings mindfully in this way, we become more emotionally stable, trustworthy, and reliable. Through the power of insight, our responses become more balanced and more in line with what is really happening.

Four Airmen Were Killed Due To A Plane Crash In Colombo

Four airmen were killed and one was hospitalized with life threatening injuries when  Antanov Air Craft they were traveling  was crashed in to the Colombo suburbs early this morning.

The air craft belongs to the Sri Lanka Air Force which was flying from Katunayake to Ratmalana was crashed in Aturugiriya area believed to be due to the low sight and mist prevails in the area at that time sources said.

The firemen rushed to the scene to douse the fire which caused due to the crash.

Dengue Is Spreading Rapidly -Epidemeology Unit

Due to the rainy weather Dengue is spreading rapidly throughout  the Island these days

according to the Epidemiology Unit.During first ten days of this month 671 Dengue cases have been reported from the island the Unit has said.In the month of November  5322 Dengue Cases have been reported.

With these cases 42,621 Dengue Cases have been reported from January this year up to now it has been revealed.

Around 55% out of the total number of Dengue Cases reported up to now are from the Western Province.

The Epidemiologist have appeal to the public to destroy the objects which can help to breed Dengue Mosquito Larvae in their houses and gardens to avoid spreading of Dengue.

THOUGHT OF THE DAY TO YOUR LIFE FROM BUDDHISM(SOURCE-WILDMIND BUDDHIST MEDITATION SITE)

Loving yourself has a bad press in the West. We often associate it with being self-centered and not caring about others.In fact, we have a tendency to want to put ourselves down to avoid being thought of as self-centered.

But in the Buddhist tradition, which has produced countless outstandingly generous and selfless individuals, there is an emphasis on developing love for yourself as an indispensable prerequisite for loving others.

In the Christian tradition we can also bear in mind that the injunction is to “love others as yourself,” implying that we ought to love not just others but ourselves as well. In fact the assumption in saying that we should love others as ourselves is that we already do love ourselves and that we need to extend that love to others! It’s ironic that it’s often people with Christian conditioning that think that loving yourself is sinful.

Buddhists believe that if you don’t love yourself, then it’s hard, if not impossible, for you to love other people. And if you think about it you might find you already suspect that some of the most selfish people you know really, deep down, don’t like themselves. Their selfishness is a compensatory mechanism. On the other hand, many warm and generous and loving people are able to be at ease with themselves without appearing at all narcissistic or selfish.

If there are aspects of yourself that you don’t like, the tendency will be to dislike those same things in others. In fact psychologists talk about “projection” where we dislike some part of our personality so much that we actually refuse to admit it exists (if you think only other people do this then you’re projecting right now!). But we still see the same characteristic in others, and so we “project” our unacknowledged “dark side” onto them. So a lot of our ill-will towards others is actually a dislike of ourselves. It stands to reason that if we want to improve our relationship with other people, we have to also improve our relationship with ourselves.

Of course, if our metta started and ended with ourselves then it wouldn’t really be metta — it would be selfishness. So although the first stage of the practice begins with ourselves it moves on to others in the remaining four stages.

It’s important to make sure you do the first stage (don’t skip it — if it’s hard then that means you need to do it). The cosmos will not award you extra “brownie points” for leaving yourself out. But also make sure you do the other stages as well.