Siddhearta's Essence of 2020.

I am not going to lie, 2020 was a challenging year. In Buddhist practice we often find this sentiment:

Transform obstacles into the path of awakening. 

Well, 2020 decided to just throw everything at us at once. How do we stay present, generous, receptive and kind amidst a global pandemic, natural disasters, rampant job loss, economic fallout, social unrest, homeschooling, and oh, an election year? Chances are you don't. And that's okay, that's why we call it a practice. You practice being present, practice being kind, practice being generous, practice being receptive. You practice and you fail, a lot. 

This year was particularly challenging for me. I lost my father-in-law and two close friends to non-COVID related deaths. One of my regular practices is to engage in the traditional Buddhist 49 days of practice after someone dies, as a way to show up for them as they transition through the death process into their next life. It allows for a natural way to grieve, while also honoring the connection that you have and still have after someone has passed from this life. At one point in August after I had been doing the practice daily since mid-May, I began to wonder if I would ever stop doing the practice. My father-in-law and two close friends died in successive months, and this was accompanied by the many other people I knew through work or through acquaintances that died due to COVID-19. My 49 day practice ended up coming to a close at the end of August, and yet how many have we lost since then...

2020 forced all of us to reconsider how we show up in the world. We were forced to reshape our lives, change the way we work, learn, interact. Things that we used to do are no longer options, and things we never imagined doing have become normal (wearing a mask at work all day). In one way, we have all come to appreciate what matters most in our lives, and we have all slowed down a bit to take advantage of those things. 

Despite all of the challenges of this year, there were still opportunities that came to light. Our Sangha has transformed into a thriving online community, though we no doubt look forward to the chance to reconnect again for retreats in person. We also started the Dharma Conversations Podcast this year and have published over a dozen episodes so far. I also finished up editing a book for my teacher, Younge Khachab Rinpoche, expected to be released this spring. Stay tuned for more details. 

As I look back at this past year, I realize how fortunate me and my family have been and I am grateful that I have such a supportive network of family and friends. It is hard to imagine having to navigate the uncertainty of this year without those connections. Much was lost this year and it is easier to appreciate just how precious and fragile this life really is. I am also tired and weary and would like a break, and I am sure you would too. Hang in there, find some time for yourself, recognize your own needs amidst all of the chaos. Give yourself the needed break of putting aside all the media, the worrisome thoughts and stories. Don't punish yourself with unnecessary expectations. It is enough to be present amidst uncertainty,  without a clear handle of how things are going to work out or when this is all going to be over. 

Here are some of my better posts from this year:

For your practice: 

Spacious Awareness
A metaphor for timeless awareness.
The Royal Seat of Akanishtha.
The journey to the center of it all. 
Carry on.
Exploring mind and its nature. 
Two pespectives on mind. 
Fulfillment, found. 

Pandemic contemplations:

In search of the normal day.
Last chance to share thanks. 
Not doing is hard work. 

Conscious Leadership and institutional racism

"I am not a leader."
I am a contribution. 
#BlackLivesMatter. *Conditional terms apply
Conscious citizens of the world
Model of conscious leadership
Five elements of conscious leadership

The virtue of presence.

Presence is compassionate. It is open, available and responsive.
Presence witnesses the world as it is, offering acknowledgement, understanding and respect.
Presence is generous. Generous with your time, attention and effort.
Presence is disciplined. It does not waver or get caught up in cycles of confusion.
Presence is patient, overcoming the tendency to shut down and turn away.
Presence is diligent, willing to resolve hardship as we journey on the path.
Presence embodies a natural meditative stability.
Presence gives rise to insight and wisdom.

All virtues are embodied in presence. Practice being present, and you give the world a great gift.

Say yes.

What do a barista, a stranger on the bus, a teacher, a lawyer and a designer all have in common?

They can all be practicing virtue.

They can be patient, generous, compassionate and kind. They can act fairly, justly, without bias or discrimination. They can share insight and experience, share tidbits of wisdom and joy.

When we interact with those whose path is one of all-embracing virtue, we encounter a certain honesty and truthfulness. It feels right, genuine.

They often have a freedom and joy about them. They exhibit a natural grace and ease, a sense of lightheartedness.

As they move through the world, every encounter is one of mutual sharing and exchange. There is a directness free from the baggage of strong emotions, projections or bias. They interact with others in a way that the chains of confusion are broken and the cycle of anger is interrupted, even if only for a moment.

So how do we carry that virtue into our lives?

Say yes to whatever is coming up.

You could be faced with a problem that you would rather not deal with. Opportunities could present themselves, do you take them or not? A stranger might ask you something, or maybe a friend. You will have to interact with someone you really don't like that much.

Don't push it away. Don't get overly excited and enraptured by it. Say yes, acknowledge it, and see where it leads.

Be willing to interact with things as they are.

Some things play themselves out, unravel and wither away. Some evolve and open up into something else altogether.

The play of interdependence is beyond the mind. We can't say for certain what will happen. Our own decisions, connections and propensities create a world that is uniquely our own. It can be challenging to carry that experience into the world around us to effect change, make a difference or to benefit others.

Simply engaging in the formless practice of all-embracing virtue,
we can meet with the world and our experience as it is,
and bring about benefit in ways that we could have never imagined.

That is how all-embracing virtue creates inconceivable benefit. 

A perfect day.

Each morning I wake up knowing today I have the opportuntity to be generous.
Generous with my time, my energy.  Generous in thought, word and deed.
I will have the opportunity to be receptive, available and present for those around me.
I will have the opportunity to make today meaningful, but I will face a lot of challenges.

I know I will have to rely on discipline today, 
Without a mindful awareness I will quickly succumb to distraction and idleness.
It will take discipline to hold me back from firing off a smart rebuke.
It will take discipline to remain in equipoise when it is much easier to turn my back and walk away.
Discipline will keep me aligned with my intention, but it's not going to be enough by itself.

I know I will need patience today.
Patience to sit with irritation and discomfort.
Patience so that I don't get caught up in purposeless arguments.
Patience so that I can remain open enough to continue, when it is easier to shut down.
Patience will allow me to continue to hold that space and to dance with resistance I am facing.
Patience will be a dear friend, supporting me in my efforts.

Diligence will allow me to carry through in my efforts.
Without it I will certainly succumb to laziness and distraction.
With it I will joyously persevere in my work, adversity and problems only fueling my fire.
Diligence is like a great steed, carrying me to my destination regardless of temporary circumstances.

All of this will rely on a singular focus-
To eliminate my own negativity and cultivate virtue so that I can fully bring benefit to the world around me.
With this single intention, meditation will allow me to work with resistance directly, loosening its shackles and the power of its influence.
Meditation will bring me clarity, stability and an appreciation of the illusory nature of all experience.
Meditation will give me freedom- freedom to move, freedom to act, freedom to decide.

All of this shall be accompanied by wisdom.
Wisdom that knows that this ground I stand on is not my own, that I am not its sole creator.
Wisdom that knows that this opportunity is a dance based on connection, a vast web in which our own neurosis will gladly play itself out if we let it.
I could dance and consume and have flashes of every emotional and mental state throughout my day, that could be my experience, and likely will.
I can see that, experience that, even live that.
But that is not my intention.

My intention is to use this day to bring benefit to myself and others, and so I practice carrying everything else onto the path.

Whatever I experience today will be the perfect opportunity to bring that practice to completion.

The struggling artist.

An artist is someone who is generous, open and vulnerable.  Their medium is connection.  The result of their work is that they have impacted another life, brought about a benefit or change.

We all have to work with what is coming up.  Something is always coming up.

The artist is able to cut through the resistance and willing to care enough to make an impact.

The rest of us get caught up in the resistance, entangled in struggle and strife, dissatisfied in our search for meaning. 

We're struggling artists.

The difference?  How you relate to what is coming up in your life. 

Entirely different.

There are people in our life who have changed us.  Changed us in ways that we couldn't imagine what our life would be like had we not been touched by their grace.  We would be entirely different people. 

They are people whose words have impacted our mind, whose presence has opened us up and whose kindness has permeated our heart.  They could be people we have known for many years, or even those who we knew for a brief moment in space and time.  Those people are our greatest teachers.  They've changed us, stuck with us even when they are no longer around.  They have given us a gift that is timeless and inexhaustible.

We can never repay our teacher's kindness.  It is not possible because they have created a world that we could have never imagined even for ourselves.  Their gift to us has created something that didn't exist before and the only way that we can begin to repay their kindness is to share it.  Increase it and spread it throughout the ten directions.

You can never be sure when a gift will create a new world, so give generously and dedicate all of your actions to the benefit of beings.    

  

Part of our family.

There are those who care and those who don't.

Don't worry about those who don't care, treat them with respect and kindness and let them go there way.  Respect your own time and energy.

Those who care are like your own family.  They show up, do the work.  They push through resistance because what other choice do we have?  Pour your energy and time into strengthening the network, on impacting their lives and offering your support.  Benefit others, contribute value and the whole community benefits.  

We all want to be part of a family that cares, that takes a chance on being generous and kind.  Such a family experiences true wealth, or ratna, and they are crazy enough to want to share it with others.   

The way of the bodhisattva.

Alert.
Attentive.
Calm and composed.
Generous.
Insightful.
Responsive.
Patient.
Undaunted, persisting amidst fatigue.
Empathetic and compassionate, they think about the needs of others and strive diligently to bring them happiness and joy.  

Free from the attachment of holding some close and others distant, they wholeheartedly wish to establish all beings in health, happiness and well being.

They are like a father and mother for the world. 

Here's the thing-

When you get the opportunity,
the chance to share,
to be generous,
to love,
to be kind,
to lend a helping hand;

Don't be stingy.

Share generously.
Be fully present,
and listen.

Don't hold back. 

Embodied.

I see a lot of weary and disheartened people.
I see a lot of disembodied people.

More than anything, I think people are looking for a sense of authentic presence in their lives.  They want to feel genuine, to feel that their life is full of meaning and purpose.

They want to be embodied.

But to be embodied, you need to know where you stand.  To trust your ground.

You need to know your values, to have integrity in what you do and dignity in who you are.

You need to have confidence, be brave enough to push past your fear and face your uncertainty.

You need to see through your faults and failures, drawing out the lessons and carrying on the wisdom.

You need to be willing to be vulnerable, to care without being callous and to give without expectation.

To be embodied is to embrace the qualities in you, to see the illusory nature of everything you are, were or will be, but to see that potentiality despite the illusions.

Its all right there, embrace it.  

What do you stand for?

What do people like you do?

People like us do the work.  We show up.

We care.

We are generous, loving and kind. 

We like to have fun, we are good natured and easy going,
but we don't waste time,
because we don't have time to waste. 

Our work- to liberate ourselves from our own confusion, fear and neurosis so that we can truly be open, receptive and available for others.

That is where the magic happens. 

The Code.

1. You have the guts.
2. Your going to do the work.
3. Your going to work hard.
4. Your going to make the time.
5. Your self-directed and self-reliant.
6. You ask questions.  Lots of questions.
7. You dig deeper. 
8. You show up.  For yourself and others.
9. You love being generous.
10. You are authentic.

11. And this isn't all about you.