How does transformation occur?

What is the basis for transformation?  How does it happen?

Is it a miracle?  An act of god?  Is it luck or simply a chance occurrence?

When we talk about transformation we need to look closely at what is being transformed.  Our habitual mode of relating with reality is to ascribe identity and characteristics to things.

This is a car.  It is a blue Ford.  Leather seats, fancy gadgets.  That is what it is.

We don't really question this version of reality.  This is the world and that is just the way it is.
Or is it?

When we break a car apart, we end up with a bunch of parts and pieces.  Are they collectively still 'car'?  I don't think anyone looking at a pile of parts and pieces would call them a car.  So when does 'car' come into being, and when does it cease to exist?  At which point in the dis-assembly do we go from having a car to not having a car?  It is kind of a weird question to think about.

In our life, when we encounter a problem, where is the problem exactly?  If we take apart the problem into pieces, is it still there? When we come down with illness or disease, we get stuck on the permanence of that disease.  Is it really permanent?  Will it ever change?  Is there something we can do to change it or are we simply a choice-less victim?  

Who we are, the quality of our mind, our well being and identity; all these are in a constant state of flux.  It may not be readily apparent, but time and the impermanent nature of all things has already shown this to be true.  We already have this knowledge.  

Reality is not fixed.  It is not permanent.  Our minds are not fixed, they are not permanent.  If we understand that the basis of all things is impermanent, changeable and dynamic, transformation becomes possible.  Actually change and transformation are happening all the time, day and night.  If we are able to use discernment, insight and clarity we can actually impact that change.  Through intention we can transform negative situations into strengths, we can transmute the pain and suffering of our present circumstance into an opportunity to show others how to walk this path. 

Do you think this is impossible?  I'll show you that it's not. That is what we are doing here.  Our life is the example.  We are the example.  How do you transform the ordinary into the extra-ordinary?  How do you transform the mundane aspects of your life into something meaningful?

Don't confuse transformation with being magical.  The real magic lies in its simplicity.  The extraordinary starts out as ordinary.  Transformation isn't about turning iron into gold, it is about turning your life as it is right now, into a life of great purpose.  It is about transforming your mind and your intention.

And it is possible.   

Amitabha

OM AMIDEWA HRIH

Amitabha is one of the Five Family Buddhas.  

His pure land is Sukhavati, the Land of Great Bliss, representing the great joy experienced when all conditions are met as opportunities for practice and realization in the quest for complete awakening.  His color is red, representing the activity of magnetizing or attracting.  His hands are in the mudra of meditative equipoise symbolizing stability, the right 'skillful method' hand supported by the left 'wisdom' hand.  In his hands he holds a lotus flower, a symbol of purity and renunciation.  The lotus is a powerful symbol associated with all Buddhas, symbolizing their appearance in the world and yet that they are unstained by defilements, hindrances and cognitive obscurations.  A blossoming lotus represents the natural unfolding of activity free from the faults of the eight worldly concerns. 

Amitabha is the Buddha that represents completely purified attachment or passion.  All of us have strong desires and passions and our fixation on these leads to a very narrow view and limited understanding.  We become fixated on our version of the truth, what we think is the right way, what we want.  Attachment is not flexible, it is rigid and stiff and produces poor decision making and cloud upon cloud of negative thoughts and emotions.  Amitabha represents the transformation of that attachment into the wisdom of discernment.  Discernment is free from bias and distortion.  You see and understand.  You get the big picture.  A discerning mind is open, flexible and precise.  It is able to perceive its own condition and the condition of the surrounding world. 

Amitabha rides a peacock possessed with all the major and minor marks.  The peacock is able to transmute poison into healing nectar.  Its call announces dawn or awakening.  The eyes of its feathers represent wisdom, the quill feathers represent the myriad skillful methods that are employed to bring about fruition.  Like the lotus, the peacock is able to transform the mundane and poisonous aspects of our daily life and world in order to bring forth great benefit.

In regard to our own mind and self, Amitabha represents the aggregate of perception.  Perception is like a lens through which we see the world.  That lens is obscured by negative emotions, bias, ignorance and fear.  As it becomes distorted, our thoughts and actions become distorted.  Attachment and aversion are constantly effecting the opaqueness of our lens, closing off access to insight and wisdom.

When we deeply contemplate and integrate the wisdom and symbolism of Amitabha, we can learn to transmute attachment and distorted vision into the wisdom of discernment.  We become skilled at transforming problems and the negative aspects of our life and world into the path.  Our practice becomes one of transformation.  We don't need to escape, turn away or reject.  We can work with what is coming up.  Because we are not fixated on our own position, we can see the opportunity available to us.  We can see the opportunity available to others. 

Everything becomes the practice.  Your life is your spiritual practice, the result is the path.  Sukhavati is not some destination in which we arrive, it is the path on which we walk. 

Start walking. And bring a peacock.