The person seeking there own freedom and happiness is constantly at odds with the world around them. Karma and dependent origination serve as a burden, a constant reminder of entrapment in this unceasing wheel of life. Fear exists at every corner, constant threats are always presenting themselves and our own well being is always in a precarious position.
For the person seeking the freedom and happiness of others, everything in the world around them is an opportunity. Karma and dependent origination reveal a deep connection with the world and all beings. This connection allows for responsiveness- impact and growth. There is a natural freedom and ease, because this thing that is happening, this struggle, this problem, this seeming end- it's not permanent nor lasting.
Yes, karma and dependent origination reveal a wheel that just keeps going.
But so do we.
Clarify your practice. Let your practice clarify you.
Friday, September 19, 2014
Wednesday, September 17, 2014
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.
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.
Monday, September 15, 2014
The white-glove test.
You probably all remember cleaning as a child. I do. Do you remember dusting, thinking that everything was clean and tidy, only to have your mother or father come along and point out dust you hadn't noticed?
How about your house now? I am willing to bet it looks pretty good, but would it stand up to the white-glove test?
Our minds are quite the same way. We keep our standard routines in place to feel like we have our act together. We eat healthy, exercise, get enough rest. We enjoy expressing gratitude and sharing our gifts with the world. We look and feel pretty good about ourselves. We are actually really down to earth, good natured people.
And then you sit down to meditate for ten minutes maintaining the discipline not to move. The white-glove test. What is really going on in our heads?
Most likely they are busy and restless. Thoughts, projects, conversations and memories race across our minds like a proverbial dust storm. We notice our minds chasing and grasping at all sorts of things- feelings, perceptions, sensations, appearances.
Intense.
Of course it is up to you to decide what to do with this information. You could let the dust be and see what happens, pretend its not there and hope no one notices. You could wait around, hoping that maybe someone else will do the dirty work for you. You could also get to work and start cleaning your own house.
Up to you.
How about your house now? I am willing to bet it looks pretty good, but would it stand up to the white-glove test?
Our minds are quite the same way. We keep our standard routines in place to feel like we have our act together. We eat healthy, exercise, get enough rest. We enjoy expressing gratitude and sharing our gifts with the world. We look and feel pretty good about ourselves. We are actually really down to earth, good natured people.
And then you sit down to meditate for ten minutes maintaining the discipline not to move. The white-glove test. What is really going on in our heads?
Most likely they are busy and restless. Thoughts, projects, conversations and memories race across our minds like a proverbial dust storm. We notice our minds chasing and grasping at all sorts of things- feelings, perceptions, sensations, appearances.
Intense.
Of course it is up to you to decide what to do with this information. You could let the dust be and see what happens, pretend its not there and hope no one notices. You could wait around, hoping that maybe someone else will do the dirty work for you. You could also get to work and start cleaning your own house.
Up to you.
Friday, September 12, 2014
Out wandering.
Our minds drift all day and all night. We scroll down through status updates looking for something interesting. Click from video to video looking for the next laugh. We like to be entertained and there is no limit to the entertainment available.
Until we get bored with being entertained.
Then we might go for a run, read a book, go shopping, bake some cookies. Our mind will lead us off in all kinds of directions. It is so easy to stay busy these days, some of us even use it as a catch-all for our day, "It was busy."
We might look for a new job, a different career, a new house. What if we renovated instead? We could move stuff around, do it another way.
So restless.
Why are we so restless? What is this wandering mind really looking for? Is it just another tasty treat or fun experience? What is it?
It is hard to say what exactly you are looking for, I surely can't speak for you, but I think what all of our minds are looking for are to be in tune with our heart. If our hearts don't know what we want or what we are looking for, our minds wander aimlessly looking for something to connect with.
If our hearts know what is true, what is meaningful and worthwhile, then our minds can focus on what needs to be done. We can focus on our practice, whatever form that takes.
Until we get bored with being entertained.
Then we might go for a run, read a book, go shopping, bake some cookies. Our mind will lead us off in all kinds of directions. It is so easy to stay busy these days, some of us even use it as a catch-all for our day, "It was busy."
We might look for a new job, a different career, a new house. What if we renovated instead? We could move stuff around, do it another way.
So restless.
Why are we so restless? What is this wandering mind really looking for? Is it just another tasty treat or fun experience? What is it?
It is hard to say what exactly you are looking for, I surely can't speak for you, but I think what all of our minds are looking for are to be in tune with our heart. If our hearts don't know what we want or what we are looking for, our minds wander aimlessly looking for something to connect with.
If our hearts know what is true, what is meaningful and worthwhile, then our minds can focus on what needs to be done. We can focus on our practice, whatever form that takes.
Wednesday, September 10, 2014
Homage to the nature of mind.
དཔལ་ཀུན་ཏུ་བཟང་པོ་ལ་ཕྱག་འཚལ་ལོ།
གདོད་མའི་མགོན་པོ་ཡོན་ཏན་གང་ཆེན་མཚོ།
མཁྱེན་བརྩེའི་རང་བཞིན་གཏིང་མཐའ་དཔག་ཡས་ཤིང།
རྒྱལ་བ་རྒྱལ་སྲས་ཡིད་བཞིན་འབྱུང་བའི་གནས།
ཕན་བདེའི་སྤྲིན་ཕུང་འཕྲོ་ལ་ཕྱག་འཚལ་ལོ།
འོད་གསལ་ཆོས་སྐུ་དྲི་མེད་རྒྱལ་བའི་ཁམས།
མ་རིག་འཛིན་པས་སྲིད་པ་འདིར་འཁྱམས་ཏེ།
ལས་དང་ཉོན་མོངས་མྱང་མ་ཐང་དཀྱིལ་དུ།
དུབ་པའི་སེམས་ཉིད་དེ་རིང་ངལ་གསོ་བྱ།
NAMO
SHRI SAMANTABHADRA!
I
pay homage to the primordial Lord, an immense ocean of precious qualities,
Whose
depths of natural wisdom and compassion are beyond measure.
This
wish-fulfilling jewel of the Victorious One’s and their spiritual heirs,
Gives
rise to cumulus clouds of happiness and benefit for all.
The
luminous clarity of the stainless dharmakaya is our own buddhanature.
Through
fixation and not recognizing our own awareness, we wander in states of
becoming.
Exhausted
and wearied by karma and negative emotions,
Today,
may we find rest in the nature of mind.
~Longchen Rabjam
From the Semnyi Ngalso
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