Make It Personal

Something that’s been on my mind a lot lately is bridging the gap between becoming familiar with Dharma teachings vs taking them to heart. In his books, Geshe Kelsang continually advises us that listening to or reading about Dharma should not simply be an intellectual exercise, and that we should take every teaching as personal advice. This advice itself is easy to understand intellectually, but how do I actually do this, and how do I quantify or identify my success?

There are some very practical and easy ways to do this:

• When reciting sadhanas, or prayers, rather than just reciting the words as if on autopilot, actually concentrate on the meaning. For example, while reciting “and I rejoice in the virtues of all” try to actually generate a mind of joy at others’ virtue. Here is a great article on sadhanas as a means to deepen our experiences in meditation. It takes some practice, but with familiarity anything is possible!

• When reading Dharma texts, at the end of each paragraph (or if that’s too much, choose a paragraph that seems to stand out for you) and ask yourself “What is the main point of this section? How does it apply to me?”. Try to think of some specific examples from your own experience that may show how you’ve improved your practice, or perhaps where you still need a little work. Close your eyes and try to remember, or try to imagine what it would be like to achieve what you’re reading about – for example, how would it actually feel to have equal love for all living beings? Maybe through this you will gain some special insight or determination that is specific to your experience – stop your contemplation and meditate on it for a few minutes, or if you don’t have time jot it down and try to meditate on it in your next session.

• In the evening, take just a few seconds to look back over your day. How many activities did you engage in for the sole purpose of improving your external conditions? We all spend a lot of time arranging the details of activities such as meals, errands, plans for the weekend, vacations, career goals and so on. We often spend a lot of time talking, texting, emailing and so forth about these activities. How much time did you spend thinking about and planning your internal activities – the activities of your mind? How much time did you spend thinking of and considering others? There’s no judgement or guilt involved in this type of reflection. Just simply try to gauge where you are right now.

I’d love to hear your feedback. What are some ways in which you have been able to personalize Dharma teachings, really take them to heart? (Or other spiritual teachings – whatever path you are on!)

Favorite Geshe Kelsang Gyatso Quote For Today

So I’ve been reading Guide To Dakini Land by Geshe Kelsang Gyatso a lot lately. This book is a commentary on the practices of Buddha Vajrayogini. (Visit this link to see images of her - she rocks!) Out of sincerity (or perhaps a little too much rigidity) I had purposefully not read books on Highest Yoga Tantra until a few months ago. I felt that I should maybe put this off until I had actually received a Highest Yoga Tantra empowerment. This was purely a personal decision, one that in hindsight I might not recommend. Anyone is free to read about these practices, but to engage in them an empowerment is required. An empowerment is a ceremony that places special potentials on our mind. Since gaining results in our spiritual practice is cause and effect, it’s definitely a good idea to create the proper causes. In the case of Highest Yoga Tanta, an empowerment is one of the causes. These empowerments are open to anyone, and occur regularly in our tradition. If Tantra is a new subject for you, I highly recommend downloading the free eBook Modern Buddhism.

Back to Guide to Dakini Land – on page 54 I came across this little gem: 

“The purpose of reciting prayers is to remind ourself of their meaning. Because our mind is weak in Dharma understanding we must rely upon the support of verbal prayers”

 Some of my favorite Geshe Kelsang quotes are those that when read seem so obvious. They’re also the ones that I’ve probably heard or read many times before but my mind just glossed over (non-ascertaining perceiver!). This quote shows so clearly how important the prayers, or preparatory practices, are when engaging in meditation or just anytime in general. When I first started coming to meditation centers five or six years ago, I had some trouble with the sung prayers. I grew up in a very conservative part of the U.S. where the words “prayer” and “blessing” came with a lot of baggage. Namely what felt like condescension and judgment to me. I had some “white knuckle” moments in the beginning, where my mind would really resist having to recite prayers or hear the word blessing. But I also recognized on my first visit that my mind felt completely different when I was at the center and after leaving than it did before I got there. I would have been pretty dismayed at the time to know that this was in fact the result of blessings and prayers. Luckily, my teacher at the time was very patient with me! Also, the more I’ve learned about the nature of our mind the more readily I’ve been able to accept concepts such as faith, blessings, rebirth, and karma – the ones that are difficult for many Westerners at first.  Maybe I’ll try to write about that in a future post.

Do you have any favorite Geshe Kelsang Gyatso quotes?

A Free Buddhist eBook, by Geshe Kelsang Gyatso

Hi everyone! I’ve been quiet for a while, been pretty busy and also had the good fortune to visit Manjushri Kadampa Meditation Center in England for the first time this summer. Incredible. Really! Everyone says that, but that’s because it’s true. I was only able to go for the second week of the Summer Festival, but this is when Gen-la Dekyong, the General Spiritual Director of the New Kadampa Tradition, gave empowerments of Heruka and Vajrayogini. These are also known as Highest Yoga Tantra empowerments, and it was my first time for this as well. I am so, so happy to have received these, I’ve been wanting to for a long time now. Also (not that it matters ultimately) but this may be the first or one of the first times that a female has granted this empowerment. Gen-la Dekyong looked like she was having the time of her life, and I can only imagine what an incredible experience it was for her, not to mention the over 3000 people there receiving the empowerment. The founder of our tradition, Geshe Kelsang Gyatso, has said that there are four types of teacher: lay, ordained, male and female. All are considered equal. I think that this is wonderful!

I also wanted to make sure that everyone interested is aware that Geshe Kelsang’s latest book, Modern Buddhism, is available as a free download from this site: http://www.emodernbuddhism.com. It is available in several formats for Kindle, iPad, etc and the website has nice, clear instructions on how to download it. No strings attached – you don’t even have to provide your email address. Geshe Kelsang’s wish is that this book be freely available for everyone to enjoy. Once you start reading it, you’ll see what an incredible gift it is – so very clear and accessible. If you have an interest in Tantra, this book includes a beautiful explanation. If you have a wish to receive Highest Yoga Tantra empowerments, keep that determination in your mind – you’ll be surprised at what can happen.

So, enough about me and what I’ve been doing, I hope to have another post written soon!

Take care.

At the moment we are unable to benefit all living beings but we have the potential for this ability, which is part of our Buddha nature – Modern Buddhism by Geshe Kelsang Gyatso

 

 

Who is Buddha, anyway?

Sometimes I have the pleasure to give informal tours of the Buddhist temple that I attend. We are very fortunate to have on our shrine an eight foot statue of Buddha Shakyamuni, the founder of Buddhism in our world. We also have many other large statues which are incredibly beautiful. Naturally, people want to know more about the statues, and what the differences are between them. Sometimes this can get confusing. What do each of them mean? What about their hand gestures, and what they are holding?

In our Western society we want to know everything, all at once – Geshe Kelsang Gyatso, my teacher, says that this is a good thing. When we hear dharma, we immediately want to put it into practice. But sometimes this urgency can be an obstacle, causing confusion in our minds. Since we already have enough confusion in our minds (at least I do!), we definitely don’t want to add more!

Rather than focus on their apparent differences, I find it helpful to focus on what all Buddhas have in common. All the Buddhas on our center’s shrine are the same nature. Ultimately they are empty of inherent existence, meaning they don’t exist separately from our own mind, and from their causes and conditions. Conventionally, a Buddha is a being who has removed any trace of negativity from their mind, has realized the true nature of all phenomena, and who has perfect, unbiased love for all living beings. The Buddhas on our shrine are the same nature, but showing different aspects, in order to benefit us. Some emphasize wrathful compassion and some emphasize wisdom. It’s important simply to remember that they are not separate from each other. Over time, we will naturally learn more about them.

All Buddhas have in common four special qualities, which make them completely reliable and non-deceptive.  They are without fear, they are skilful in helping living beings, they love all living beings equally, and they help all living beings without exception. Buddhas are fearless because they know directly the true nature of all phenomena, and have completely given up self concern. If we check, the fear we experience is directly proportional to our self concern. More about that here. Because Buddhas have perfected their wisdom, they can clearly see how to help all living beings. Sometimes we try to help others, but we often can’t see what people really need – Buddhas are free from this ignorance. All pervasive love is completely mixed with a Buddhas mind – they couldn’t have become a Buddha without it! Because their mind is mixed with this love, it is impossible for them to deceive living beings. The causes for harm and deception have been removed completely from their minds. A Buddha’s sole reason for existing is to benefit all living beings. The omniscient wisdom that they posses arises solely from the altruistic wish to help others. In reality, even though Buddhas are not capable of deceiving us, there would be no reason for them to even if they could – having accomplished permanent joy and happiness already, a Buddha doesn’t need anything from anyone, so why would they deceive us?

We should also know that Buddha is not separate from us. In reality, we are like a Buddha in waiting. At one time, Buddhas were ordinary beings like us, but through effort transformed their minds into wisdom and love – and we can do the same. In some of the prayers we do at the temple, the Buddhas of the three times are mentioned – past, present, and future. Who are these future Buddhas? Us, if we apply effort! So you can take a look in the mirror, and know that you are actually a future Buddha.

Acceptance Is Power

I’ve had the good fortune lately to hear many wonderful teachings on anger and patient acceptance, and also to try and teach these ideas for the first time myself. It is amazing how teaching dharma can give dimension to your own understanding. Plus, it’s the best way possible to benefit others.  I hope that I have the opportunity to continue teaching, and I also hope that everyone who has the wish to teach will be able to. If you’re like me and extremely shy and introverted, let me just say that teaching dharma is a different experience – if I can do it, you can do it! (With guidance from a qualified teacher, of course!)

OK – pep talk over! On to patient acceptance.

In Buddhism, anger is labelled as the most destructive mind. According to Geshe Kelsang Gyatso, anger is defined as a deluded mind which focuses on an animate or inanimate object, views its faults, exaggerates those faults, and develops the wish to harm the object.  This is one of the things I love about Buddhism – you get a clear, thought provoking definition for a term that you took for granted, that you’ve heard all your life. If we want to become determined to rid our mind of anger, we can just contemplate that definition piece by piece.  A deluded mind – definitely don’t want any part of that!  Views and exaggerates those faults – this shows that anger is not focused on reality, because it is by definition distorting its object. Develops the wish to harm – this last part clearly shows why anger has no purpose, and overcomes many objections. Many people believe that there is such a thing as ‘righteous anger’, but what if you replace ‘anger’ with ‘wish to harm’? ‘Righteous wish to harm’ just doesn’t quite have the same ring to it. When viewed with dharma wisdom it becomes clear that anger serves absolutely no purpose. It’s only function is to harm – both ourself and others, in this life and in all our future lives. Any spiritual goal we have set for ourself is impossible if anger rules our mind. We don’t need anger to fight social injustice, protect ourself, or know when to leave a relationship. If anything, performing those actions without anger will ensure that we take the best course of action, since we will not be operating under the influence of a deluded mind.

Patient acceptance is the opponent to anger, meaning that anger can’t arise in a mind governed by patience. It isn’t possible. Given that anger is incredibly painful to experience, it’s good to hear that it has a nemesis. Patience acceptance is a mind that whole-heartedly accepts any situation, having given up the idea that things should be other than what they are. In reality, we are not giving up anything besides an extraordinarily painful mind. We are simply accepting what is already a reality, whether we want it to be or not. Sometimes we think that anger makes us powerful, but it really limits us to only one course of action – to harm.  With patient acceptance, we have infinite possibilites – or at least more than one! What is powerful about limiting ourself?

It is important to note that we’re referring to unavoidable suffering, or the suffering we’re already experiencing. If there is a remedy to the suffering of ourself and others, by all means take it.  But if suffering is already upon us, what is the best course of action to take? What should we do with our mind? It’s these types of thoughts that lead to real, lasting, peace and joy.

Pure Potential

Without a strong motivation, it is difficult to develop the intention to meditation on a regular basis. With so many distractions in our lives, it’s easy to lose focus. We’re a results oriented society, and we need a goal.

Imagine that you’re on a long road trip to a city you’ve never been to, maybe several hundred miles. Along the way you see sign posts telling you how much farther you have to go. At first, these signs aren’t so exciting, and you might not really be on the look out for them. But as you get closer to your destination, those signs draw your attention in. I mean, you’re a lot less likely to pull off the road for a detour if you’ve only got a few minutes left. These signs also may have more and more specific information about your destination, like local attractions and things to do when you get there.  The closer you get, the more focused you are.

This is a lot like meditation practice. At first, you might only do it sporadically and may not even notice any difference at first. Over time, the signs become more and more obvious. Of course the signs in this case are internal signs, like increased feelings of contentment and happiness. That’s because a calm, controlled mind naturally gives rise to pleasant feelings.  The sooner you recognize those feelings as “signs” pointing you in the right direction, the more enthusiasm you’ll have for your meditation practice. In reality, those feelings of contentment are correct signs, and similitudes, of our pure potential.

Every living being without exception has the potential to completely purify their mind of all traces of negativity. Since negativity is the source of unhappiness, by completely removing it from our mind we can remain happy all the time. This potential is indestructible, it is our Buddha seed. The first time I heard this, I felt so much joy and relief. But I also had doubts. Luckily in Buddhism we’re encouraged to try for ourselves, and not to accept anything on blind faith. By observing the results of your meditation, you can become more and more convinced of your own pure potential. It’s the ultimate destination of your meditation practice.

Pure potential is the best way to boost your confidence (not arrogance!)- it is completely stable and reliable, and no one and nothing can take it away from you, not even death. Confidence based on external objects such as looks or material possessions can evaporate as quickly as the objects themselves. In the blink of an eye our appearance can be altered, or we can lose our job. We only need look to ourselves or those around us for examples.  Pure potential also can help us through difficult emotional times. It is so healing to think “I am a being with pure potential who is temporarily experiencing sadness”. Much better than our usual mental habit of identifying with our painful feelings and becoming hopeless.

Viewing others as having pure potential will completely transform the way we relate to them. Being able to hold this recognition with mindfulness throughout the day will definitely impact both ourselves and others. Remembering that all living beings possess this potential will protect us from feelings of pride. By combining an understanding of rebirth with pure potential, our view of non-humans will change as well. Animals, for example, have no opportunity to train their minds, which is why we should strive to have compassion for them. If they are fortunate, humans may find the ultimate refuge of dharma, but for animals this is impossible. Their pure potential has to remain just that – a potential – at least in their present life. Recognizing this, we can comfort them whenever possible and not disturb their minds, and maybe even strive not to eat them!

Pure potential is the great equalizer – male, female, lay, ordained, gay, straight, young, old, human, non-human – doesn’t matter. Everyone possesses the exact same potential. Think how many of the world’s problems could be solved by just this one realization!

Often, it’s easy to get caught up in the details of meditation – should my eyes be partially or completely closed, should I sit on a cushion or on a chair, etc. In my experience it’s better to observe the results of your meditation over time. Continually ask yourself  if you feel more calm and peaceful after you’re done than when you began? Do you have this experience consistently, over time? This a sign of correct meditation, and your own pure potential. Gradually you can extend this recognition to others. From this, everything else will fall into place.

Compassion All Around

There have been a lot of commentaries and ruminations on Osama bin Laden’s recent demise.  Many blog posts have already appeared, such as Luna Kadampa’s very insightful article which can be found here.

Articles are popping up on CNN and elsewhere, either expressing jubilation or reservation about his death. Something interesting to note is that those most closely affected by the tragedy tend to be more introspective, and those more removed seem more likely to celebrate (a generalization of course).

What keeps running through my mind is a verse from The Bodhisattva’s Confession of Moral Downfalls also known as Sutra of the Three Superior Heaps.  In this practice, we extensively list and confess all the negative actions we have engaged in.  We recite different categories of actions that we have committed and ordered to be committed, throughout this and all our previous lives.  But also included are the words “…….and have rejoiced in them being done”. (Those of you who are Kadampa Buddhists are probably familiar with the beautiful minor key tune these words are set to in our version of the sadhana).    As Geshe-la points out, by rejoicing in others virtuous actions we accrue merit as well, so it only stands to reason that by rejoicing in the non-virtuous actions of others we are accumulating quite a bit of negative karma. Just think how many people were involved in this action – if we are rejoicing, we are rejoicing in each person’s negative action. Geshe-la says that rejoicing in others virtues is one of the easiest ways to accumulate positive energy, merit, virtuous karma, etc.  I wonder if it is just as easy to accumulate non-virtue through rejoicing in others non-virtuous actions.

Debates are popping up online about the suitability of celebrating another’s death , with both sides often becoming tense and critical at the least.  In reality, this is another opportunity to have compassion for everyone involved: those directly involved in the action, those who ordered it to be done, and those who are rejoicing in it being done. As Geshe-la has said, people only differ in appearance, status, behavior, and dress – in essence they are all suitable objects of our compassion.

Karma: It’s Not Personal

Karma, like gravity, is not personal – it’s not singling us out.  If we trip and fall, we don’t get mad at gravity. We don’t wonder why we fell, instead we direct our energy to avoid falling again.  Gravity wasn’t trying to “teach us a lesson”, it was functioning as it should, like the law that it is. Gravity doesn’t discriminate on the basis of intellectual knowledge. If you jump off of a fence, you’ll experience the same result, whether you’ve heard of gravity or not. We accept gravity as a characteristic of the world we live in. By understanding the way that it functions, we can learn to avoid unwanted results.

Buddha didn’t invent karma, nor is it a philosophical construct created for intellectual exercise.  As Geshe Kelsang Gyatso writes in Joyful Path of Good Fortune in the chapter on Karma:

“The law of karma is a special instance of the law of cause and effect, according to which all our actions of body, speech, and mind are causes and all our experiences are their effects”.

With strong understanding and belief in the law of karma, we don’t have to wonder anymore why bad things (or good things, for that matter) happen to us or others. Just as with an understanding of gravity we remove and avoid obstacles on a physical path to avoid falling, an understanding of karma will impel us to remove and avoid obstacles on the internal path of creating pure, lasting happiness for our self and eventually others. We don’t have to waste time and energy anymore on the ‘why’, but instead focus in on the ‘how’. This knowledge is very empowering and allows us to truly shape our own experience.

Suffering As Fuel

In Buddha’s teachings we are shown a clear and perfect way to enjoy pure and lasting happiness.  This path is very simple – remove all traces of negativity from our mind. (I said simple, not easy!).  This requires steady, constant effort. Who will encourage us? As Geshe-la kindly puts it – no one. We must do this for our self. By clearly understanding our current situation we will definitely develop a strong wish to apply effort to purify our mind. And, whatever we wish to do, we will do. The best motivator possible is staring us in the face – suffering.

We may not want to, but we have to come to the deep realization that the world we live in is the nature of suffering. The point of contemplating the suffering of our self and others is not to become despondent and depressed, but to come to a place of acceptance.  Acceptance doesn’t mean passivity and agreement – it means having the clarity and presence of mind to see our situation and to be able to follow the best course of action. We can’t change what we don’t acknowledge.

Manifest suffering (physical and emotional pain) is easy to detect for both our self and others, but in reality even our regular enjoyments such as eating, shopping and so forth are in fact not reliable sources of enjoyment. They are a temporary relief of a particular suffering. For example, if we are thirsty, at first drinking cool water is an enjoyment, but if we were to continually drink it we would become ill – this has even been used as a method of torture before. All external, worldly enjoyments are like this – not one is a continual, reliable source of happiness – eventually these enjoyments will turn into suffering.  With dharma wisdom, we realize that this suffering isn’t limited to this brief life, but stretches out through endless time, in all our future lives.

This doesn’t mean that we abandon our hobbies or our friends, but that we relate to them in a different way.  Realizing that our friends cannot give us the permanent happiness we desire is actually a kindness, by doing so we relinquish the unrealistic expectations we have of them.  Realizing that external, worldly enjoyments cannot give us permanent happiness is a kindness to our self, since we spend endless amounts of energy pursuing them.  Instead, we can direct our energy towards purifying our own mind, which is the greatest kindness of all for both our self and others.

Start By Taming Your Own Mind

It is not possible to subdue unruly beings

Who are as extensive as space;

But simply destroying the mind of anger

Is the same as overcoming all these foes.

 

Where is there enough leather

To cover the surface of the Earth?

But just having leather on the soles of one’s feet

Is the same as covering the whole Earth.

 

In the same way, it is not possible

To control all external events;

But, if I simply control my mind,

What need is there to control other things?

 

– from Geshe Kelsang Gyatso’s translation of Guide to the Bodhisattva’s Way of Life by Shantideva