Who's the Muse?

What is the source?  Where does it come from?  How do you do it?

The answer to those questions depends on the artist and their art.  If your art is the practice of bodhicitta- the wish to bring about the benefit of others through generosity, love and kindness, then your muse is reality.  It is the interactions that take place, the conversations that unfold, the stories that are shaped like the convergence of the wind and leaves.

It is random and unpredictable, but if your mind is open and receptive you will be surprised at what you can hear.

You'll discover an unending stream that continuously unfolds, presenting you with opportunities to give gifts that matter, to practice your art. 

No Excuses.

This vehicle operates under the assumption that you are busy.  That you have a lot of responsibility.  That you have others that rely on you and that you need to take care of.  

You already carry a heavy burden.

Your life is not perfect.  It's messy.  You have real wounds, they might even still be bleeding. 

So that is our basic requirement.   That is our ground zero.

Other vehicles might ask you to give it all up.  To walk away, leave it behind.  Escape it all together.  They might ask you to start over, start fresh.

Here, take a reprieve.  A 'Get Out of Jail-Free' card.

That might work, maybe.  My bet is that it won't though.

Better to deal with what we have.  This situation that we are in, it might not look so good.  It is heavy, it gets pretty tiring.  But it is not fixed, it is not permanent.  There is room here.  You can work with this. 

That is why we call this the Mahayana, the Great Vehicle. 

It is called great because it is greater in scope- fulfilling both your own aims and the aims of others.
It is called great because it is greater in aptitude- asking more from you.

We are asking more from you. 

Let Your Practice have Character.

If your practice is to simply recite the words or to do what everyone else is doing, then it is fake.  It has no depth, no character.

Let your practice take on a life of its own.  Let it be spontaneous, quirky, weird.  Let it be you.

Then as your practice develops and unfolds, you will develop and unfold.  As your practice becomes more pure and uncontrived, you will become more pure and uncontrived.  As your practice generates qualities of tolerance, love and compassion, so will you. 

If you put the work into your practice, it will change you. 

Gods and Demons.

Attachment and aversion.
Hope and fear.
Gain and loss.
Fame and blame.
Happiness and suffering.
Good and bad.

Which side do you feed?

We all have our gods and demons, both serve as hindrances on the path of liberation and prevent us from accomplishing our own aims and the aims of others.

We get attached to the gods, reinforce them.  Maintain them and they become the status quo.  Our path has stalled due to our own fixation.

We hide from our demons.  We run whenever they show their face.  Our hiding and fear entrap us and prevent us from going deeper, from moving on.  Our path has stalled due to our own fixation.

Cut through fixation and you liberate gods and demons simultaneously.  Shall we? 

Do What You Want.

That seems to be the slogan of our day.  It also represents the hallmark of having obtained a life of freedom AND opportunity. 

In the process of doing what we want, we should also have a practice that is worth committing to.  A practice that we show up for and are accountable to, day in and day out, whether we have the time or not.

Our lives are all filled with busyness and distraction, but it is our commitment to our practice that brings us our intended result.