No one is watching.

Our culture is largely centered on doing things for show. You record yourself working out, practicing your art, going through the motions. We are constantly broadcasting who we are to the world, marketing the best version of ourself to others. 

How do you practice when no one is watching? 

What are your actions when no one is there to hold you accountable?

How you show up in the world when no one is watching is most likely your most generous act, but it can also provide us with an opportunity to be our most selfish. It's up to you. 

Cut through the experience.

One meditation instruction from my teacher Younge Khachab Rinpoche that was really useful and had a profound impact on my meditation was to intentionally interrupt positive experiences of meditation.

This might seem counterintuitive, because we are trying to accomplish something in meditation after all, aren't we?

The instruction applies to the state of naturally abiding, or rang-nay. When we start to really feel like we have it, and maybe we are having some kind of positive experience, then we intentionally slightly interrupt that meditation. Shift your posture. Maybe circle your head, or shift your gaze. Then, settle right back into the natural state. Let go, rang-bab.

This subtle instruction breaks us from the bondage of clinging to positive experiences, and it also gives you more agility to seamlessly relax into the natural state. It is not a big, dramatic interruption. Keep it small, a few seconds really. Then rang-bab, settle into the natural state again.

You don't need to always apply this technique. Use it skillfully. Especially if you ever find yourself with your great and unmatched wisdom saying, "Ah, yes. This is it." Interrupt that grasping.

The wasteland.

Charnel grounds are a recurring theme and symbol that appear in many of the stories of meditation masters and great teachers of the past. It is said that great masters like Garab Dorje, Shri Singha and Padmasambhava all spent many years in charnel grounds after the nature of their own mind was revealed to them.

The charnel ground represents the wasteland that is the final result of this human life. The presence of death and loss cannot be overlooked or hidden. No matter how beautiful or meaningful the work that we have done in this life, no matter how much we have cherished our loved ones, all of us must go through this devastation and loss. The charnel ground also directly challenges this notion of the ego, the importance that we place on who we are and what we do.

The best solution to being in the charnel ground seems to be to get out of it. We want to get away and hide the whole thing. If we don't look at it and don't get too close, maybe it's not going to be there to torment us. Yet the actual solution comes from living fully in the charnel ground and using the resourcefulness of our own practice to dance with whatever is coming up in our experience.

You can be sure that when you feel like everything is falling apart and your world is turning into a charnel ground, you are being called to a deeper presence in the world.

Recognize that moment. Rediscover the ground of your renewal and resilience. That is the essential if you are to learn how to find complete resolution while living in the charnel ground. When you learn to skillfully work with the intense appearances of the charnel ground, you will find that it has become a pure land in which you can manifest your activity and accomplish your aims. 

Disconnected.

There is a disconnect between spiritual practice and modern forms of earning a living. 

Our culture is driven by ego.  Spiritual practice cuts through ego.
Our culture is driven by profit and gain.  Spiritual practice is rooted in generosity and letting go.
Our culture chases after name and position, fame and renown.  None of those hold weight in our spiritual practice. 

So how do we earn a living as a professional and carry out our spiritual practice?

Do we divide them?  Day trader and night giver?
Do we forsake the workplace and retreat to remote abodes, saying "this is not possible."

It is a problem that you must resolve on your own. 

What does your practice look like in the context of your whole day?  Can you resolve the tension and conflict of carrying your practice into your work?  Does your work cause you to suffer and generate self-contempt?  Can you be patient with your work as you progress on your path?  Do you need to switch, change or find something better before you can integrate your work and practice?

All of these have to be answered by the serious practitioner of virtue.  They are not easy questions, and you are the one that needs to bring forth the answers.  You are the solution, and it must be lived. 

The truth of suffering.

We see suffering as many things in our life. 

We see it as heartbreak and loss.  We experience it as pain and regret.  We feel it as we age, our bodies failing us in ways we never thought they would.

Suffering takes many forms in our life, appearing as many different faces and in all places.  It goes by many names, but there is one that we seldom acknowledge.

Truth.

There is a truth to our suffering, something that we can learn from it if we are willing.  To learn the truth of suffering we must be honest with ourselves and our situation. 

Our ego is wrapped up in our own suffering and the stories that we tell about ourselves.  We perpetuate our suffering because it is part of our identity, its part of who we are.  Acknowledging our suffering requires that we set aside the story of ego, the story of how important we are or how great our life is.  It requires that we look truly at all the pain and ugliness, that we see our true face free from the mask of deceit. 

Which is painful. 

The truth of our suffering is all around us, it pervades our life.  We fail to acknowledge its truth because it makes us feel weak and vulnerable.  The ego hates to feel weak and vulnerable.  In response to this our ego throws up walls and barriers, acts out in passion and aggression to try to gain control of the world around it.  We build ourselves up in an attempt to overthrow our own suffering, all the while sowing seeds for a never ending harvest.

The first step that we take on the path is one of truth.  Honesty to ourselves.  We are suffering.  I am suffering.  When we take this step, we are treading the path of the noble ones who have went before us. 

Acknowledging our own suffering, we can start to see the suffering of those all around us.  We see their suffering reflected in our own life, we see how our story is shared with theirs.  The truth of suffering grants us the gift of gratefulness. 

Suffering that gives rise to gratefulness is a gift, a gift that we can learn to share.   

Mara.

བདུད་
Tibetan: dud
English: Mara or demon

The story of the Buddha's quest for complete awakening and fulfillment reaches its climax under the Bodhi tree. It is here that Siddhartha Gautama formed a firm resolve not to get up from his seat until he was enlightened.

When Siddhartha took his seat and entered into meditative absorption he entered into battle with Mara, who was trying to prevent and derail his quest.  Mythologically, Mara is a powerful demonic god, but metaphorically anything that exerts a negative influence and creates obstacles and problems on our spiritual path is considered a demon, or Mara. 

As a practitioner, Mara symbolizes our own self-cherishing and our preoccupation with the eight worldly concerns.  These are what we enter into battle with on our own path.  As these powerful armies rise up against us, we must sit firmly and not waver in our practice.  We must remain unhooked by these clever and mischievous demons.

We get hooked by hoping for pleasure and fearing pain.
Our minds ensnared by hoping for fame and fearing disgrace.
We become trapped hoping for praise and fearing criticism and blame.
We are totally caught up in hoping for gain and fearing loss.

All of these are the self-cherishing habit of ego, caught up in hope and fear, attachment and aversion.  These are what keep us stuck in the cycle of samsara. 

Waking up from ignorance and delusion isn't easy.  The path isn't easy.  At some point you need to turn and face your fear.  You need to learn how to work with these demons, see how they hook us.  We need to understand how they how they shade our perception and influence our decisions and actions.

These demons are not real.  They are intense, but they are not real.  Knowing that we can start to work with them. 

What are you?

You have a physical appearance, but you are not your appearance.
You have feelings, but you are not your feelings.
You have thoughts and ideas, but you are not your thoughts and ideas.
You have perceptions, but you are not your perceptions.
You have experiences, but you are not your experiences.
You have habits, but you are not your habits.
You have preferences, but you are not your preferences. 
You have consciousness, but you are not your consciousness.
You have an 'I', but you are not your 'I'.

So what are you?

We bind ourselves when we get caught up in appearances.  But we are not those appearances.

We are naturally liberated.  Natural Buddhas.  

INSUFFICIENT DATA FOR MEANINGFUL EXPERIENCE

I watched an interesting TED talk the other day by David Eagleman about how we experience the world.  David and his team are doing breakthrough research for deaf people using technology to allow deaf people to actually hear.  It's pretty amazing stuff what they are doing.   

In his talk he mentions the German word umvelt, which means the surrounding world.  David argues that our experience is constrained by our sense perception and that the reality that we experience is defined by the limits of our sense organs.  He also talks about what would happen if we use technology to increase our sensory experience, such as being able to directly perceive UV light or infrared light.

Would that increase in sensory experience expand our umvelt?  Would it lead to a more expansive experience of the world?

Surely.  Without a doubt.

But how does that actually benefit us?

When I was in college, me and my roommate got in a heated discussion with one of his friends about the use of LSD or other psychoactive drugs.  The basis of his argument was that our brain is wired to only experience reality a certain way and by taking drugs you could expand that experience and presumably gain something in the experience.

Is it our experience of reality that limits us?

It is without a doubt in my mind that we could experience more, indefinitely so.  We could experience an expanded visual consciousness, a wider auditory consciousness, a more subtle olfactory and taste consciousness, and a much more discerning perception of touch.  We could do all of those things.

All of this is based on the assumption that we have insufficient data or information, and that insufficiency limits us.  It limits our experience and our experience equals...what does more experience equal?

More experience could equal more humility, more awe and insight.  I think that is really the hope.  But truly, more experience usually equals more ego.  What if we could become like the gods and know all?  How marvelous would we be?  Our amazing experience would mean that we are amazing.  The significance of everything that we experience would translate to our lives being significantly significant.  We would find our lives meaningful.  Having experienced EVERYTHING, our lives would be fulfilled.  Maybe we would even finally feel satiated.

What really limits our experience is that we crave experience for our own sake.  Then we fixate on that experience of reality as true, having experienced it ourselves.

Craving and ignorance, those are our real inadequacies.

Craving keeps us in a cycle of consumption.  Ignorance fixates on me and mine.  Neither are fulfilling.  Both constrict our experience.   


 



 

Four demons.

The great female saint and realized pracitioner Machig Labdron taught about four demons in her practice of cutting-through.  A demon is not a black, scary monster.  It is anything that torments you and obstructs your freedom.  

Outer Demons
Outer demons are anything that we relate to with attachment or aversion.  Any material objects, forms, sounds, tastes or physical sensations that we experience getting ourselves caught up in.  We get hooked by our fixation which creates the conditions for bondage and suffering, which is why they are called 'demons'.  They are called 'outer' because they are objects of the five sense faculties.  

We should strive to cut-through these demons, strive to eliminate their influence and our habit of falling under their power.  We cannot stop them from appearing, but we can cut through our fixation on them as being real and permanent.  We can look through their outer appearance and see their true nature.   

Eliminate grasping and they are powerless.  You are liberated.  

Inner Demons
Inner demons are concepts that bring your fear and terror.  They haunt you at night and torment you ceaselessly.  Grasping at these good and bad thoughts causes the mind to become afflicted with negative emotions, bringing you great harm and causing you to act out like a fool, thus they are 'demons'.  They are 'inner' because they are the experience of your mind and mental states, a world of experience that you get wrapped up in and struggle to escape.  

We should strive to cut-through these demons.  We don't need to block thoughts or memories, but also don't hold onto them and dwell on them.  Recognize their true nature to be like waves on the water, rising and falling but leaving without a trace.  Relax into your own true nature and the disturbances naturally subside, liberated in their own place.   

Demon of Elation
The demon of elation is the result of mental attachment to delight and joy.  This could be the result of some worldly gain, fame, accomplishment, some great experience you had or some sign of success.  They are called 'demons' because they cause great arrogance and pride in oneself which becomes an obstacles to freedom.  

We should strive to cut-through this demon.  Whenever good things happen, don't fixate on the qualities of that experience.  Recognize them as being like a dream or illusion.  It is possible to enjoy experience free from fixation and grasping, as you integrate your experience with the path and achieve success in cutting-through the demon of elation, you will truly be able to extend yourself and benefit others.    

Demon of Self-Importance
The demon of self-importance is the root of all demons.  This demon arises from the self-grasping that is the root of all suffering and dissatisfaction.  It is the chronic disease that blocks the attainment of freedom and awakening.  

We should strive to cut-through this fixation on 'I' and 'mine'.  Cut-through to our true nature, our buddhanature, our originally pure and spontaneously present nature of mind.  

Where there is ego, there is also a demon.  Where there is no ego, no demon can be found. 

Ephemeral- without mental designations.

Mind free and easy- fixation on 'I' annihilated.

Pristine- incapable of disturbance by emotional conditions.

Clear- consciousness free of outer and inner duality.

Transparent- awareness free of attachment to anything whatsoever.  

~Machig Labdron

Ratnasambhava

OM AH HUNG RATNASAMBHAVA TRAM

Ratnasambhava is one of the Five Family Buddhas.

His pure land is Gunavyuha, the Array of Qualities, representing the wealth of complete and perfect buddhahood.  His color is yellow, representing the activity of enriching and increasing, like the bountiful increase in crops just before the summer harvest.  His right hand is in the mudra of supreme generosity, completely purifying egotism into the wisdom of equality, equalness.  His left hand holds a precious jewel- radiating peace, prosperity and fulfilling his own benefit and the benefit of countless others. 

He rides a precious horse possessed with all the major and minor marks.  The horse is fearless, never startled.  His composure is perfect with a soft mane and flowing tail.  His tireless hooves are silent, light and unfaltering.  The horse rides on the wind, the natural vehicle of movement and change.  In Tibet, it is believed that prayers are carried on the wind.  Prayer flags are often known as the 'wind-horse', and making aspirational prayers and prayers of dedication give energy to that horse.

In regard to our own mind and self, Ratnasambhava represents the aggregate of vedana, which is often translated as sensation.  But sensation here really refers to how we experience the world and mental events.  In the Abhidharma-samuccaya:

What is the absolutely specific characteristic of vedana? It is to experience.

So the way in which we determine our experience (or our life) as being positive, negative or neutral is the aggregate of vedana.  We are presented with a situation and we determine it is positive while someone else might determine it is negative.  Who is correct?

When we deeply contemplate and integrate the wisdom and symbolism of Ratnasambhava, we can learn how to transmute any situation into one of great wealth and purpose.  Whatever we are presented with, if we meet the situation with the mudra of generosity we can overcome the narrow confines of our ego.  We can approach the world with openness and tenderness.  We can transmute selfishness into the wisdom of equality.  That precious jewel you are holding in your left hand, that is bodhicitta, the intention to awaken from your own darkness and delusion in order to benefit others.

So you ride your horse, you train in fearlessness (which doesn't mean there is no fear).  You train in composure, in honesty and integrity.  You ride the wind by making heartfelt aspiration and dedication prayers.  Give voice to the wishes of others.  Give voice to your own wishes. 

If you practice in this way, you will come to experience the wealth of Ratnasambhava.  Summer is coming.  Are you ready?  

Why healing? Why purpose?

Why healing?
We all have this notion of healing ourselves and even healing others.
The human condition is one of suffering and strife, feelings of guilt and inadequacy.
The focus is always on 'I', ego.
Paradoxically, it is we who cannot forgive ourselves out of our own self-grasping.
Out of self-grasping, we seek healing,
because of self-grasping, we are not healed.

Why purpose?
We all have this notion of fulfilling the purpose of ourselves and even others.
The human condition is one of seeking to overcome all the suffering and strife,
that is said to be buddhanature ripening.
The focus is always on 'I', ego.
Paradoxically, it is we who cannot accomplish our own purpose out of our own self-grasping.
Out of self-grasping, we seek purpose,
because of self-grasping, our purpose is not fulfilled.

Cutting the root, self-grasping,
we find that we are simultaneously healed and fulfilled.
All the qualities once sought have become fully manifest.
We have arrived at the citadel,
surrounded by the noble riches of those thus gone.
We are the womb of suchness,
in which worlds of opportunity unceasingly unfold. 

Letting go.

Your practice should include the art of letting go.

Letting go of the fear.
The pain.
The anger. Frustration.
Letting go of your hope.
Expectations.
Judgement.
Ego.
Letting go of resentment.
Mistakes.
Bias.
Ideals.

Let everything go.  What is left when you have nothing left to hold onto?

Now, continue with the practice.  

Dāna

The more we care for the happiness of others, 
the greater our own sense of well being becomes.
His Holiness the Dalai Lama

The Sanskrit word 'Dana' means giving.  

You have something to share and we want you to share it.  It is only when you recognize your own wealth and are willing to give it to others that the path to liberation begins. This marks the beginning of an altruistic attitude, caring for the benefit of others as opposed to yourself.  

Prior to giving there was only taking, egotism and concern for one's own welfare.  You know how that turns out.  You've already tasted that fruit and it grows more sour each day.  You know its bondage first hand.  

We bind ourselves with selfishness, 
We liberate ourselves through giving, 
So start giving.