If you have been around meditation circles long enough you will start to hear people say, "Meditation is boring, and that's just part of the experience."
Well, that's kind of true.
Once the monkey mind settles down and you achieve some kind of calm abiding or shamatha meditation, meditation itself can seem kind of boring. You have passed one milestone and settled into some kind of space, but you are missing one key ingredient.
Compassion.
Compassion you say? Of course I have compassion and generate the wish to benefit others through my practice.
Well, that's also kind of true.
You have the aspiration, but are you actually embodying compassion? Free from a physical act, what does compassion look like?
Openness embodied. Without center or limit, free of all reference points and elaboration.
Openness embodied is alive. It is vibrant, luminous. A spacious expanse. It is blissful, full.
The state of completely open awareness is the embodiment of grace. Grace, embodied.
Recognize boredom for what it is, a reference point for you and your experience. Get a bigger bucket.
Clarify your practice. Let your practice clarify you.
Showing posts with label grace. Show all posts
Showing posts with label grace. Show all posts
Friday, July 22, 2016
Wednesday, August 19, 2015
Compassion.
She is open, responsive, all-embracing.
She is without border or limit.
She is receptive, always available, even vulnerable.
She has a natural grace, a timeless presence.
Naturally radiant yet confidently grounded,
she is compassion.
As compassion she abides.
Her activity is her expression,
yet she is fully manifest without action.
She is without border or limit.
She is receptive, always available, even vulnerable.
She has a natural grace, a timeless presence.
Naturally radiant yet confidently grounded,
she is compassion.
As compassion she abides.
Her activity is her expression,
yet she is fully manifest without action.
Wednesday, July 15, 2015
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.
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.
Wednesday, May 7, 2014
Dancing Partners
It's tempting when you go dancing to only dance to the songs you like and the people who dance like you. It feels safer to dance with those who have the same tempo and those who make you look good.
The problem with this sort of dancing is that you spend most of your time waiting. Waiting for the right song to play, waiting for your partner to be free, waiting for the right time to start. You want to dance, but you never actually get around to dancing.
Start dancing with those who are bad dancers. Be patient. Slow down your tempo and adjust your posture. Cut them some slack and give them time to catch up. Listen to what they need and guide them with tiny steps and repetition. You actually learn a lot about your own dancing when you teach others to dance.
Start dancing when it is not your song. Explore a new tempo, a new style. Feel the music and the beat, listen closely and let it guide you. Trust your instincts, your intuition. Dance on the edge of unknowing and fear. Dance on the edge of 'you might look stupid'. Watch what others are doing, adapt and adjust. Make it your own. You're still dancing.
Start dancers with others who are so much better than you. Be awed by their grace and poise. Mimic their moves. Embody their grooves. You might not have that much style and definitely don't have their grace, but let them lift you. Be inspired. Want to leap higher and with some extra pizzazz. Now you know it is possible, keep dancing.
When every song and every partner presents themselves as an opportunity to dance, your practice has reached its consummation. Now you are practicing the art of dance, so just keep on dancing.
Then you just need to learn how to bring those skills off the dance floor. Dance in the streets, dance at work. Dance with anger, dance with love.
The problem with this sort of dancing is that you spend most of your time waiting. Waiting for the right song to play, waiting for your partner to be free, waiting for the right time to start. You want to dance, but you never actually get around to dancing.
Start dancing with those who are bad dancers. Be patient. Slow down your tempo and adjust your posture. Cut them some slack and give them time to catch up. Listen to what they need and guide them with tiny steps and repetition. You actually learn a lot about your own dancing when you teach others to dance.
Start dancing when it is not your song. Explore a new tempo, a new style. Feel the music and the beat, listen closely and let it guide you. Trust your instincts, your intuition. Dance on the edge of unknowing and fear. Dance on the edge of 'you might look stupid'. Watch what others are doing, adapt and adjust. Make it your own. You're still dancing.
Start dancers with others who are so much better than you. Be awed by their grace and poise. Mimic their moves. Embody their grooves. You might not have that much style and definitely don't have their grace, but let them lift you. Be inspired. Want to leap higher and with some extra pizzazz. Now you know it is possible, keep dancing.
When every song and every partner presents themselves as an opportunity to dance, your practice has reached its consummation. Now you are practicing the art of dance, so just keep on dancing.
Then you just need to learn how to bring those skills off the dance floor. Dance in the streets, dance at work. Dance with anger, dance with love.
Wednesday, February 26, 2014
Trouble finding our seat.
A lot of us, most of us actually, have difficulty finding our seat. We are quickly consumed by our position, what is our view, our orientation. Maybe we should take our seat in this location? Or maybe it would be best if it were in that other location way over there?
Even if we have the location of our seat, there is the whole contrived act of arranging our surroundings, our dress, the lights and atmosphere.
Then when the atmosphere is just right, we might get caught up in thinking that we are not actually prepared to take our seat. We should have read and prepared more, or accomplished this other activity or project first.
As sure as we are of our opinions and ideas and of who we are, our uncertainty shows in our unwillingness to take our seat. Our uncertainty manifests itself as restlessness.
Taking your seat means to sit with confidence, composure and certainty. It means to be calm and clear. You sit with discipline and grace not to conform with the 'right way' to sit, but because discipline and grace are the natural expression of a peaceful mind.
Mainly I am talking about finding your seat in meditation. But, I could also be talking about finding your seat in life.
Even if we have the location of our seat, there is the whole contrived act of arranging our surroundings, our dress, the lights and atmosphere.
Then when the atmosphere is just right, we might get caught up in thinking that we are not actually prepared to take our seat. We should have read and prepared more, or accomplished this other activity or project first.
As sure as we are of our opinions and ideas and of who we are, our uncertainty shows in our unwillingness to take our seat. Our uncertainty manifests itself as restlessness.
Taking your seat means to sit with confidence, composure and certainty. It means to be calm and clear. You sit with discipline and grace not to conform with the 'right way' to sit, but because discipline and grace are the natural expression of a peaceful mind.
Mainly I am talking about finding your seat in meditation. But, I could also be talking about finding your seat in life.
Thursday, September 5, 2013
Saturday, May 25, 2013
A Shift in Space
When you are on the ground, friction allows you to push an object away from you. You can move big objects, but it takes a lot of force and effort.
When you are suspended in space, you need to use creative forces to move objects (don't skip that link with all of its cool tools). If you can learn to take your stance in space, then with very little effort you can send massive objects propelling in the opposite direction.
So how do we hit a home run. It doesn't matter how fast the baseball is traveling, how much inertia is has, if it is suspended in space thats all it takes is one good swing to knock it out of the park. We just need to find our stance.
The question becomes, how do we eliminate the ground? Or for starters, what is the ground that we are trying to remove?
Usually that ground is our own self-cherishing mind. The layer upon layer of fixation, our cognitive and emotional obscurations, our habits and karma. We can use logic and reason to demonstrate the falseness of this self-grasping- the confusion it creates, the problems it causes, the inherent limitations that it imposes. But so what? That doesn't actually remove the ground, we just know that it doesn't work and that it shouldn't be trusted. Yet we end up using it anyways because that's all we've got.
What we need to do is get beyond mind. Beyond all the concepts and justification. We need to get into space and we need to figure out how to stand there.
That is not an easy proposition.
That space is unpredictable. It is always changing and we can't use a reference point to justify ourselves for even a moment or we are stuck back on the ground. We can't even give you the answers ahead of time because we don't know what is going to be coming up.
You have to be able to recognize that space as it unfolds. It is not a mere nothingness. Something is always going to be coming up. Your options are either to recognize it or be caught up again in the cycle of ignorance. If you can take a strong seat in that spacious expanse, then you can witness whole worlds of opportunity unfold and collapse right before your eyes.
There is a potential to act. That is why your stance is important.
If there is a trace of self-cherishing and remnants of the ground not yet cleared, then the cycle of confusion repeats itself and you encounter lots of friction. If there is no fixation whatsoever to be found and you are motivated by bodhicitta, seeking out the welfare of beings, then there is the arising of grace. That grace manifests itself as generosity, love and kindness.
Its effortlessness can move worlds.
When you are suspended in space, you need to use creative forces to move objects (don't skip that link with all of its cool tools). If you can learn to take your stance in space, then with very little effort you can send massive objects propelling in the opposite direction.
So how do we hit a home run. It doesn't matter how fast the baseball is traveling, how much inertia is has, if it is suspended in space thats all it takes is one good swing to knock it out of the park. We just need to find our stance.
The question becomes, how do we eliminate the ground? Or for starters, what is the ground that we are trying to remove?
Usually that ground is our own self-cherishing mind. The layer upon layer of fixation, our cognitive and emotional obscurations, our habits and karma. We can use logic and reason to demonstrate the falseness of this self-grasping- the confusion it creates, the problems it causes, the inherent limitations that it imposes. But so what? That doesn't actually remove the ground, we just know that it doesn't work and that it shouldn't be trusted. Yet we end up using it anyways because that's all we've got.
What we need to do is get beyond mind. Beyond all the concepts and justification. We need to get into space and we need to figure out how to stand there.
That is not an easy proposition.
That space is unpredictable. It is always changing and we can't use a reference point to justify ourselves for even a moment or we are stuck back on the ground. We can't even give you the answers ahead of time because we don't know what is going to be coming up.
You have to be able to recognize that space as it unfolds. It is not a mere nothingness. Something is always going to be coming up. Your options are either to recognize it or be caught up again in the cycle of ignorance. If you can take a strong seat in that spacious expanse, then you can witness whole worlds of opportunity unfold and collapse right before your eyes.
There is a potential to act. That is why your stance is important.
If there is a trace of self-cherishing and remnants of the ground not yet cleared, then the cycle of confusion repeats itself and you encounter lots of friction. If there is no fixation whatsoever to be found and you are motivated by bodhicitta, seeking out the welfare of beings, then there is the arising of grace. That grace manifests itself as generosity, love and kindness.
Its effortlessness can move worlds.
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