skillful dharma practice
27 May 2012 4 Comments
in Lamrim Tags: contentment, dharma practice, inspriation, New Kadampa Tradition, spirituality
“Avoid places that disturb your mind and remain where your virtues increase.” – Advice from Atisha’s Heart
Places don’t have to be locations. They can be minds. Practicing Dharma effectively takes skill. We need to know our own capacity. We need to know our own strengths and weaknesses. If we know our self well enough then we can make steady progress. Sometimes a situation looks like an opportunity, but in reality it could be too much for us to handle.
It takes wisdom and humility to travel the path according to our needs and abilities. We can’t compare our self with others. We have to balance the right level of challenge so we are stretched just enough where we can still put in joyful effort to overcome our difficulties. If we are challenged too far we can become discouraged, we can lose our enthusiasm to practice Dharma.
surfing
19 May 2012 Leave a Comment
in Lojong Tags: dharma practice, faith, happiness, inspiration, modern buddhism, om, prayer, spiritual, ultimate truth
When lots of changes happen it’s hard to go with the flow. Sometimes the ‘flow’ seems bigger than at other times. Everyday things are moving and changing. The big changes seem more challenging. Is it like we are surfing through life? Flowing through different experiences and challenges?
We are constantly surfing on the waves of our delusions. Sometimes they are big waves that we find exciting, and we crave the big wave. But when the big wave is difficult how do we deal with it? My teacher once told me to ‘go with the flow.’ Sometimes I use those words like a mantra when things get hard. It helped me to learn to surf. The main thing is to not get pulled in to the undertow of negative feelings, to stay on top of the wave, stay on top of our mind. Then we can ride it out, then we can make progress.
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precious life
13 Feb 2012 Leave a Comment
in Lamrim Tags: compassion, dharma practice, modern buddhism, past and future lives, spirituality, suffering, waves
An old man walking along a beach at dawn noticed a young man ahead of him picking up starfish and flinging them into the sea. Catching up with the youth he asked what he was doing.“The starfish will die if they are still on the beach when the sun roasts them with its mid-morning heat,” came the answer.
“But the beach goes on for miles, and there are millions of starfish,” countered the old man.
“How can your effort make any difference?”
The young man looked at the starfish in his hand and threw it safely in the waves.
“It makes a difference to this one,” he said.~Unknown
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the driving force of compassion
12 Feb 2012 4 Comments
in Lamrim Tags: animals, compassion, inspiration, love, New Kadampa Tradition, prayer, suffering
Yesterday I saw this link on a friends Facebook page. It’s about how pigs are treated in factory farms. I watched the video and it was so powerful, it broke my heart. I don’t even know what to say about it. The images stayed with me all day and still do today. I felt or feel a level of compassion I never felt before.
During my formal practice and throughout the day yesterday I thought of those pigs. I thought of how fortunate I am. I thought about how I really need to get out of samsara and how I have to help others get out too. Sometimes seeing the suffering of animals can open up this compassion on a deeper level than we can feel with other humans. They are tortured for human consumption and it is so inhumane. I don’t even know how to express it. This is my attempt.
update: It’s this link https://secure.humanesociety.org not the car ad below. Sorry if there was confusion – especially with the title having the word driving in it. 
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on retreat
22 Jan 2012 4 Comments
in Mahamudra Tags: dharma practice, enlightenment, happiness, inspiration, joy, New Kadampa Tradition, spiritual, ultimate truth
January is retreat month here at the Temple. It’s great to spend a month focusing more intensely in a formal way on my practice. This week we started a two week Mahamudra retreat.
Yesterday we spent the day watching thoughts arising and dissolving back into the mind, like clouds arising and dissolving in the sky. I noticed how the mind desperately grasps onto the clouds. It wants something to hold onto. It was not so easy to let them just pass by, as clouds do. I got stuck on a few dark heavy ones. Thoughts are as light as clouds and they come in and out of our mind in the same way. Sometimes a clear day, sometimes a huge storm. Yesterday was cloudy today is sunny.
Behind all these clouds is a pure blue sky, the mind of clarity and inner peace. Intellectually I can see how it is there, practically getting there is another story. But for me, knowing this clarity and peace are there encourages me to meditate. The thoughts will disperse, and the clarity will be revealed. It just takes some patience, time and focus.
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insomnia
05 Jan 2012 9 Comments
in Lojong Tags: contentment, dharma practice, insomnia, inspiration, mindfulness, spirituality
Until a few weeks ago I had insomnia for over a year. Which for me meant that I could only sleep 4 hours a night. No matter what time I went to bed, I could always fall asleep but then I would wake up after 4 hours. Once a week or so I could get back to sleep for another 2 or 3. This lead to lots of math in the middle of the night as well as lots of anxiety because if I didn’t sleep then I would get vertigo. I found that my sleep was full of tension and grasping and was never really restful, and of course I was tired all the time and had little energy.
I blamed my lack of sleep on many things, almost becoming superstitious about it. Then I decided to try to accept it… hmm… practice Dharma. It wasn’t easy. I decided to just be happy to be awake, not to count hours, or worry about getting sick and to just relax. It wasn’t easy because grasping at sleep can be so strong. I just had to let go, be happy with whatever happened at night. Enjoy looking out the window at the stars, read, do a little meditation practice. It seems as soon as I was able to really let go my sleep started to return to normal and became really restful. Some nights I still don’t sleep well, but I am not grasping at it. Everyone has a bad night sleep once in a while, no worry, no anxiety, just acceptance.
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mirror, mirror on the wall…
19 Dec 2011 Leave a Comment
in Lojong Tags: confidence, dharma practice, Geshe Kelsang Gyatso, happiness, inspriation, modern buddhism, New Kadampa Tradition, religion
Every day we look at our face in the mirror. We are concerned for our outer appearance. But what about our inner appearance?
Buddha suggests that we look in the mirror of Dharma to see what is going on in our mind. When we look in that mirror we might see that we have faults. I think if we can admit our faults to ourself, then we can start to accept ourself. What does loving ourself really mean? I think it means accepting ourself. Yes we have faults. The good news is we can get rid of them.
We need some humility. In the mirror we can see the truth about ourself if we are brave. Buddha accepts us, sees our potential for enlightenment and truly wishes for us to be happy. We can do the same for ourself by focusing on our potential, our pure nature. Then these faults we perceive are just obstacles to our enlightenment. I can get rid of them. They are not me.
Like Geshe Kelsang says in Eight Steps to Happiness, “When we look at external things we can usually distinguish those that are useful and valuable from those that are not. We must learn to look at our mind in the same way.”
