Too Young to Not Be Unnatural Without Knowing

In Buddhism, we teach that ALL HUMANS are born pure, natural, and without sin.

After we are born we are taught good manners, learn bad manners, and develop our selfishness.

This is natural yet completely unnatural.

When a baby is hungry it cries, naturally.

When a teenager wants something badly, they pout, and sometimes cry, naturally.

So we learn manners, behaviors, and words to help us get what we want without crying, unnaturally.

That is why it is so hard to learn good manners and sophistication -- we compete against the child within us.

Maybe you dislike your parents for making you go to church.

A young person sees only the interference of their desires, without assessing the overall requests.

Odds are, you have resentments for your parents that they never even deserved.

Buddha Zhen
Patriarch, shaolinZEN.org