The Karmapa Visits the American Embassy School

Here is an article I wrote for NESA (Near Eastern School’s Association):

Touching Peace Within:  The Karmapa Visits the American Embassy School

by Meena Srinivasan (Middle School Faculty, American Embassy School – New Delhi, India)

In honor of the UN International Day of Peace, the American Embassy School in New Delhi hosted His Holiness the 17^th Gyalwang Karmapa. After the Dalai Lama, the Karmapa is the most important spiritual leader for Tibetans and is being groomed to lead the Tibetan people when the Dalai Lama steps down. Only 24, he was born into a family of nomads in Tibet, recognized as the 17^th Karmapa at age 7, and at the age of 14 made a daring escape from Tibet to India.  Like the Dalai Lama, he is regarded as an embodiment of compassion. The Karmapa’s day long visit marked the fourth year the American Embassy School has come together as a community on the International Day of Peace to create a space for reflection and practical acts of peace.

The Karmapa arrived with an entourage of monks who visited classrooms and interacted with students throughout the day. The essence of their message was that peace is a choice we make. In an all school assembly of more than 1000 students and faculty His Holiness guided the school community through a short meditation to illustrate that peace is something natural to all of us; it is right here and now. By relaxing, being present in our body and placing our attention on our breath, we can easily see that peace is not something we have to create; it is already within us. The Karmapa stressed that education must go beyond acquiring knowledge to include our taking that natural peace inside ourselves, expanding it and giving it to others to make a better  world.

In addition to addressing students and faculty in an all school assembly, the Karmapa’s day-long visit included a talk given to parents and high school students about how to cultivate happiness.  Younger students participated in small-group question and answer sessions. His Holiness gave of himself to bless everyone who came to meet him including students, parents, faculty, custodians, gardeners, security guards. 

The visit of His Holiness was especially meaningful because the American Embassy School had an opportunity to share with the Karmapa our long standing partnership with the Tibetan Children’s Village, a community for the education of Tibetan children in exile.

A unique feature of the American Embassy School is our Educators’ Sangha that has been meeting weekly for the past eight years to share in mindfulness, meditation and peacefulness within. The Karmapa’s visit transformed the entire school community into a space of peace for the day, teaching us that “we all have the ability to touch the peace we hold within at any moment, under any circumstances.”

Bodhisattva Vow – Beastie Boys Lyrics

As I Develop The Awakening Mind I Praise The Buddha As They Shine I Bow Before You As I Travel My Path To Join Your Ranks, I Make My Full Time Task For The Sake Of All Beings I Seek The Enlighted Mind That I Know I’ll Reap Respect To Shantideva And All The Others Who Brought Down The Darma For Sisters And Brothers I Give Thanks For This World As A Place To Learn And For This Human Body That I’m Glad To Have Earned And My Deepest Thanks To All Sentient Beings For Without Them There Would Be No Place To Learn What I’m Seeing There’s Nothing Here That’s Not Been Said Before But I Put It Down Now So I’ll Be Sure To Solidify My Own Views And I’ll Be Glad If It Helps Anyone Else Out Too If Others Disrespect Me Or Give Me Flack I’ll Stop And Think Before I React = Knowing That They’re Going Through Insecure Stages I’ll Take The Opportunity To Exercise Patience I’ll See It As A Chance To Help The Other Person Nip It In The Bud Before It Can Worsen A Change For Me To Be Strong And Sure As I Think On The Buddhas Who Have Come Before As I Praise And Respect The Good They’ve Done Knowing Only Love Can Conquer In Every Situation We Need Other People In Order To Create The Circumstances For The Learning That We’re Here To Generate Situations That Bring Up Our Deepest Fears So We Can Work To Release Them Until They’re Cleared Therefore, It Only Makes Sense To Thank Our Enemies Despite Their Intent The Bodhisattva Path Is One Of Power And Strength A Strength From Within To Go The Length Seeing Others Are As Important As Myself I Strive For A Happiness Of Mental Wealth With The Interconnectedness That We Share As One Every Action That We Take Affects Everyone So In Deciding For What A Situation Calls There Is A Path For The Good For All I Try To Make My Every Action For That Highest Good With The Altruistic Wish To Achive Buddhahood So I Pledge Here Before Everyone Who’s Listening To Try To Make My Every Action For The Good Of All Beings For The Rest Of My Lifetimes And Even Beyond I Vow To Do My Best To Do No Harm And In Times Of Doubt I Can Think On The Dharma And The Enlightened Ones Who’ve Graduated Samsara

Art of Living Notes

I FINALLY did the AOL Course…What follows are my notes!

South Delhi Group: aolsd2@googlegroups.com

Satsang  @ GK II, W-50

Sat: 5:30 – 8:30 (Includes Sudarshan Kriya, to be done only once a week)

Sun: 8-9:30 (Includes watching a discourse with Sri Sri Ravi Shanker)

Main Take Aways

1. 1.    Opposites are complementary
2. 2.    Accept people and circumstances as they are. Act don’t react.
3. 3.    Whatever you do give your 100%.
4. 4.    Don’t get caught up in the opinions of others.
5. 5.    Don’t see the intentions of others.
6. 6.    The present moment in inevitable.   

Short Sudarshan Kriya (Proper Vision by Purifying Action) Practice

As you expand inhale, contract exhale

3 Stage Pranayama, Sit in Vajrasana

1^st – Thumbs on Hip Bones

            Ujay breath 8 rounds with a count of 4 in, 4 hold, 6 out, 2 hold

5 Normal breaths in between, rest hands palms facing upwards on thighs

2^nd – Thumbs under armpits

Ujay breath 8 rounds with a count of 4 in, 4 hold, 6 out, 2 hold

5 Normal breaths in between, rest hands palms facing upwards on thighs

3^rd – Elbows up, hands on back

Ujay breath 8 rounds with a count of 4 in, 4 hold, 6 out, 2 hold

5 Normal breaths in between, rest hands palms facing upwards on thighs

Bastrika Pranayama (hands in loose fists reach up to the sky)

3 rounds of 20 with 10 normal breaths in between, rest hands palms facing upwards on thighs

3 Om’s

Sit in Sukhasana if you want…

Sohum Breathing 3 Rounds

20 Long

40 Medium

40 Short

After this you can sit in savasana or practice sitting meditation!

7 Levels of Existence

1. Body
2. Breath
3. Mind
4. Intellect
5. Memory
6. Ego
7. Atman

Each layer is more subtle

Sources of Energy

1. Sun
2. Knowledge
3. Sleep
4. Breath

*Responsibility is power

* You must practice sadhana along with (spiritual practice) seva (service). They go together and your ego will increase if you do one without the other. Through sadhana love and joy blossoms inside you and service is an expression of that love and joy within in.

*The entire universe is a play of the same energy.

*The whole universe is an extension of me.  (SOHUM)

*Love is your very existence, you cannot find it outside of yourself. You love someone because they are beautiful, intelligent, educated etc.—this is conditional love. When you love someone as they are, that is divine love. Nature loves you, your pets love you. The more you feel gratitude the more love blossoms in you. If you are thankful grace flows more and more. Meditation is feeling the love with in.

*Desires are an endless cycle of suffering.

*Being in love with yourself then you are in love with everyone.

*Work is worship. Stop seeking joy in action and joy becomes action—this is karma yoga.

*It is your responsibility to cultivate your growth.

*The difference between a problem and an adventure if your attitude and your outlook.

*Try to eat sattvic food!

*You can only give what you have. If you have love and happiness then you can give it and these are within.

*Accept everyone but you remain centered and then only you act.  

*You can’t change others, you can only change yourself.

Eye Gazing Exercise: Looking deep into the eyes of another… “If God came to you as this person would you accept them?” Upanayan

Mindful Eating exercise with the grape (Eat every bite as if it is your last)

TV Exercise: Being in the present moment, being natural, not showing off, having fun but also an exercising in seeing how we please others when they push certain buttons.

Two types of tears: salty and sweet

*Your guru takes you from the known to the unknown.

*When you commit 100% to a process only then will results come.

Yoga Sequence (All Movements Should Be Coordinated With Your Breath)

Warm Up – Loosen Up (jogging in place, jumping etc.)

Stand Still, Normal Breathing

Neck Bending (Side to Side, Front to Back) 5 Rounds

Shoulder Breathing, 4 Rounds

Chest Expansion (Hands Back, Bending Forward)

Stress Buster (5 Times Right and Left)

Half Moon (4 Rounds, Right and Left)

Breath of Joy (Hugging Yourself) 4 Rounds

Cat Stretch

Child’s Pose

Butterfly

Butterfly (Nose towards Toes)

Cradle (Right, Left)

Ardha Pawanmuktasana (5 Right, 5 Left)

Poorna Pawanmuktasana (5 Right, 5 Left)

Naukasana (Boat Pose)

Half Locust, Ardha Shalabasana (Right, Left)

Poorna Shalabasana

Bhujangasana (Cobra Pose)

Superman, Vipreet Shalabasana

Padmasana/Parvatasana

Shavasana/Yoga Nidra

Plum Village: Touching the Earth As the Dharma Rain Falls

Plum Village: Touching the Earth as the Dharma Rain Falls

One day the Buddha gave Rahula, a young novice, a Dharma talk about the earth’s capacity to receive, embrace, and transform all kinds of elements. There are four great elements: earth, water, fire, and air (mahabhuta). The four great elements all have the capacity to receive, embrace, and transform. “Rahula,” the Buddha said, “learn to be like the earth. Whether people pour milk or fragrant liquids, deposit flowers or jewels, or pour urine, excrement, and mucus on the earth, the earth receives them without discrimination.” Why? Because the earth has the capacity to receive, embrace and transform. The earth can receive excrement and urine because it is immense. It transforms them into flowers, grass, and trees. If you cultivate your heart so that it is open, you can become immense like the earth and can embrace anyone or anything without suffering. (p. 190, The Path of Emancipation, Thich Nhat Hanh)

I first came across the above story last January when I was stuck on a train for 36 hours while coming back from Bodh Gaya. If it wasn’t for the immense train delay I wouldn’t have finished reading the 600 paged, “Old Path White Clouds” which is Vietnamese Zen Buddhist Monk, poet and peace activist, Thich Nhat Hanh’s, retelling of the life story of the Buddha.  For me, the train delay was entirely worth it because when I came across this dialogue between the Buddha and Rahula it summarized what my beloved teacher, Thich Nhat Hanh, has given me—the aspiration to always have an open heart and embrace whatever comes my way like the earth. During the past two weeks I was able to deepen my practice and partake in his loving, gentle and inspiring teachings at the annual Summer Retreat in Plum Village, the Buddhist Practice Center he founded along with his colleague, Sister Chan Khong, in Southern France.

One of the West’s most popular Buddhist teachers, his teachings on mindfulness have transformed the lives of so many individuals and communities from a variety of spiritual, religious and political backgrounds. He manages to combine the beauty of Mahayana Buddhism with the core teachings of the sutras about mindfulness breathing and the four establishments of mindfulness and make it relevant and accessible to us in our daily lives.  While he is often cited as being the founder of the “Engaged Buddhist” movement (which is often described as Buddhists who seek to connect insights from their dharma practice to social, political, environmental causes etc.) when asked about what “Engaged Buddhism” means to him by one of my friends at a Dharma teaching last Sunday he said that “Engaged Buddhism” can also be seen as applied Buddhism, it has to do with your daily life, like brushing you teeth (He often jokes about when he brushes his teeth he is so happy because at the age of 83 he still has teeth!), doing your dishes and interacting with your friends. The kind of Buddhism people often think of as engaged is socially engaged but you know anything you do correctly will profit society, if you have peace and happiness it will affect the world in a positive way.  Thay often says that he is a Buddhist free from Buddhism!

Last September, when I first came into his presence, I literally felt as if I was hit by a tsunami of love and I knew my life had changed forever. I am so grateful to him and his teachings on the “Art of Mindful Living” because they have given me true freedom, deep peace and so much joy—his words and loving nature have opened my heart in ways no other teacher has. During his time in India I was fortunate enough to attend two retreats (one just for educators on promoting mindfulness in the classroom) and every speaking engagement of his in Delhi along with an unforgettable peace walk on Gandhi’s Birthday. His essential teaching is to live deeply each moment of your life. To do this you must practice mindful breathing and bring your mind back to your body. The Buddha said it is possible to live happily now—Happiness is possible in the present moment and the practice consists of completely placing ourselves in the present moment to look deeply, when we do this we will always see that there are conditions of happiness already—true happiness comes from inside, from within. We spend so much time in forgetfulness, never really living, planning (a few weeks ago I read a great book that addresses our tendency to obsessively plan the future and how this can be ineffective written by Harvard Psychologist Daniel Gilbert, “Stumbling on Happiness”) or worrying about the future, replaying the past. This doesn’t mean we shouldn’t have goals, plan for the future or learn from our past but we must distinguish between productive thinking and unproductive thinking and train ourselves to think in a positive way. Through cultivating the energy of mindfulness we are able to befriend our anger and alleviate the pain and suffering of ourselves and of others. In Dehradun, I was able to ask him what faith is and he told me, “It is believing in ourselves and in the seeds of compassion, forgiveness and joy which our ancestors transmitted to us. If we believe and water these seeds we can overcome anything.” So in a way, faith is complete trust in one’s Buddha nature, in ones capacity to awaken and transform any situation.

Thay (Thich Nhat Hanh’s students refer to him as Thay which means teacher in Vietnamese) founded the Unified Buddhist Church in 1969 in France during the Vietnam War. He became a novice monk at the age of 16 and in the early 1960s he founded a grassroots relief organization in Saigon to assist those who were left homeless during the Vietnam War. While in Plum Village I read Sister Chan Khong’s autobiography, “Learning True Love: Practicing Buddhism in a Time of War,” which gave a detailed account of their remarkable lives including their exile from and eventual return to Vietnam, the contributions of this grassroots organization, “School of Youth for Social Service (SYSS),” and their tireless efforts to promote peace throughout the world. One of the reasons why Thay is so special to me is that he is this remarkable blend of scholar and master practitioner. After founding SYSS he then studied comparative religion at Princeton University and lectured at Columbia University but his main focus was urging the US to withdraw from Vietnam. In fact, Martin Luther King Jr. nominated him for the Nobel Peace Prize in 1967. In 1966 he established Tiep Hien, the Order of Interbeing. Interbeing is a word Thich Nhat Hanh created to refer to the core Buddhist Teaching of dependent origination—that nothing exists independently, everything exists because of other things. Thay’s poem, “Call Me By My True Names” is a great illustration of this: http://www.quietspaces.com/poemHanh.html. The Order of Interbeing is a community of monastics and lay people who have committed to living their lives in accord with the Fourteen Mindfulness Trainings which to me are a dynamic interpretation of the Buddha’s Eightfold Path—the path that leads to the cessation of suffering. The trainings emphasize non-attachment from views, direct experimentation on the nature of interdependent origination through meditation, and skilful means. I’ve been studying the trainings for the past year and they’ve really changed my life especially the training on non-attachment from view: “Aware of the suffering created by attachment to views and wrong perceptions, we are determined to avoid being narrow minded and bound to present views in order to be open to others’ insights and experiences. We are aware that the knowledge we presently possess is not changeless, absolute truth. Truth is found in life, and we will observe life within and around us in every moment, ready to learn throughout our lives.”  For me, the trainings have given me an ethical guide to skillfully navigate myself in the world so I never feel lost or have confusion about anything. But mindfulness isn’t about right or wrong, it is about looking deeply and generating concentration so you can have insight and cultivate your inner wisdom.

While I was in Plum Village the nuns asked me to share my experience of practicing the Mindfulness Trainings with those attending the retreat. Initially, you can receive Five Trainings, they are a modern, beautiful interpretation on the Buddha’s original Five Precepts—don’t kill, don’t steal, don’t lie, don’t commit adultery, don’t drink—and then those that wish to become a part of the core community must take up the study and practice of the 14 trainings, I’ve placed both on my blog in case you are curious along with my notes from Thay’s teachings. I don’t see the trainings as a black and white interpretation of right and wrong, rather they are a way to open my heart and try to live more compassionately—at least this is how I view them. During the past 8 months Thich Nhat Hanh and his students have revised the Five Trainings extensively so that they are more relevant in our day and age and reflect a Buddhist vision for a global spiritual ethic. I renewed my commitment to practicing the new version of the trainings when I was in Plum Village. Still it is important to understand that you don’t have to be Buddhist to practice the trainings. When I was in India I met a Christian Minister who is a student of Thay’s. In fact, the first of the 14 trainings stresses the importance of not being bound to any doctrine, theory or ideology, even Buddhist ones—the teachings should only be seen as a guide to develop our understanding and compassion. While I was in Plum Village I befriended a lovely yoga teacher from Brussels. It was so wonderful to connect with her about Yogic Philosophy and discuss Advaita Vedanta as well because these traditions inform my practice in numerous ways as do a variety of other spiritual traditions as well.

Plum Village (www.plumvillage.org) itself is breathtakingly beautiful and radiates with peaceful energy. Located in the French countryside, in the summer time the region is filled with fields of sunflowers! The monastic’s and lay practitioners that live there are so warm and friendly and I made many new, special friends from all over the world! If I had to choose one word to describe the weeks I spent there it would be “nourishing” and I would be happy to chat to those of you that are interested in spending time there. Unlike other retreats I’ve been to the schedule in Plum Village is much more open and relaxed. During the retreat your rise at 5:30am, sitting meditation from 6-6:30, followed by breakfast and then a teaching (usually with Thay) at one of the Hamlets (Plum Village consists of 3 Hamlets, Lower Hamlet house nuns and Upper Hamlet houses monks and they are relatively close to each other but New Hamlet which is where I stayed houses nuns and it is considerably farther away from Lower and Upper Hamlet.).  The teaching is then followed by walking meditation and after that you eat lunch. Everyone is assigned tasks to contribute to the community—I was responsible for taking out the trash and washing pots during the retreat. After you finish you work you have free time until dinner and after dinner there is usually a teaching or discussion in your “Dharma family.” Your Dharma family is led by a monastic and made up of a group of people that you share work tasks and conversation with. Being the youngest non-monastic in my Dharma family I found our discussions so valuable and learned a great deal from the wisdom and life experiences of my Dharma brothers and sisters. During my time in Plum Village we also had a beautiful festival to honor our Ancestors and a festival to honor our Parents. One a week we practice a “no car day” and all of the food is organic and vegan to help reverse global warming. We also have one day a week called “Lazy Day” which is where we have no plans or obligations and your only job is to be lazy—this practice reminded me of Abraham Heschel’s thoughts on the Sabbath (great summary found at: http://www.beliefnet.com/Faiths/Judaism/2000/08/A-Palace-In-Time.aspx).

A dharma friend of mine with an experience from a tradition that stresses sitting meditation for hours a day did jokingly say to me once, “Oh yeah, in Plum Village you just sit for half an hour and write a poem about it!” I did feel that it was important for me to do sitting meditation for more than 30 minutes even though the idea is that you are meditating, fully present and practicing mindful breathing during everything you do. Each Hamlet has a beautiful temple and a meditation hall where you can practice sitting more—pictures up on facebook! I really enjoyed the flexible schedule, it emphasized Thay’s whole, “Happiness is here and now, nowhere to go, nothing to do I’m not in a hurry. Happiness is here and now, somewhere to go, something to do but I don’t need to hurry.” Thay himself walks slowly and mindfully at all times and you know he has mastered the art of living each moment deeply. One afternoon I decided to do walking meditation all the way into a nearby town a few miles away. I was walking joyfully through the fields of sunflowers, with each step nourishing my soul and I was going so slowly that a lovely French man in a tractor stopped and asked me what was wrong and if I was injured because I was walking so slow and offered to drive me to town!

Thay has numerous practices to help us live mindfully and if I shared even some of them this e-mail would be 1000 pages! He has published hundreds of books, has written the most beautiful poetry and I have read several of his books and poems. I’ve found his teachings on death and the practice of “Touching the Earth” the most liberating though.  The practice of “Touching the Earth” can help us touch our true nature of no birth and no death. If the ultimate fear is death then understanding (not just intellectually) that you never are really born and you never really die can be the most liberating experience in the world. For me, “Touching the Earth” is a way to really look deeply at our own nature as a product of dependent origination and our existence in this remarkable web of life. It consists of deeply touching in this moment the presence of our parents, ancestors (blood, spiritual, and land and when we touch the earth we release any negative habit energy we have received from our ancestors and give it to the earth to transform), children (if we have them—I usually visualize my students), the lives of those we’ve touched, and all of the animals, plants and minerals that exist in us and we exist in. When looking at life in this way, that we have no separate self, that we are interconnected with everything makes living so much richer.  Feeling this interconnection then we realize that how we live our life affects everything and the suffering of living beings is our own suffering—the commitment of a Bodhisattva is the relieve this suffering. The practice itself is very, very rich and you can find it in many of Thay’s books (I highly recommend, “No Death, No Fear”). I also would be happy to elaborate more about it in person or on the phone though I’m still very much a beginner—to strengthen my practice I’ve actually made a CD guiding myself through the various touchings of the earth that I would be happy to share. It is important to not practice in form though—what’s the point then? I call this empty practice and if I’m not mindful this is what I end up doing.  Thay stresses that to really practice we must use our intelligence and our skills to make nourishment and transformation possible—we practice to awaken ourselves and to awaken others. 

I’ve been blessed to have a solid, loving sangha in New Delhi made up mostly of my colleagues at the American Embassy School—our Tuesday evenings together have been a refuge for me. Almost all of us attended the retreats with Thay when he was in India (we wrote about our experience during one of his retreats and this “Mindfulness Report” can be found at: www.aessangha.com) and his teachings have transformed all of our lives and many of us have tried to bring mindfulness practices into the classroom. I tried to practice mindful eating with my students. During the orange meditation one of my ninth graders, Yeon Ju wrote: “At first I wasn’t exactly sure why Ms. S wanted us to put so much thought into just an orange. Plainly there were the orange pickers, the sellers, and the market owners in line of the process of selling the oranges. However, when reminded of the poem that we read in class about how in order for this paper to have been made, a rainfall would have had to happen for the tree to grow and etc. I was then able to concentrate on the deeper meaning of the activity which was to get out of the trance of thinking that the orange is a simple matter, and should have been in my hands without the efforts and the natural process of a thousand events. Before the orange pickers, or even the farmers who planted the orange tree, the Earth had to exist. It may sound like an exaggeration to think about the pre-historic times just for an orange to have happened. But like all humans, and the current existence of you, me, and us, an orange took just as much amount of process. In conclusion, I learned that we shouldn’t take everything for granted but actually think about how it came to be and how much effort or time was put into just one simple existence and be thankful, thoughtful, and simply more aware of my surroundings.” I hope to do more practices with my students this year and am trying to write an article for “The Mindfulness Bell” publication about this.

I’ve also been blessed with a loving family and their solidity and stability has given me the ability to attempt to live life deeply and while I have a long way to go it feels so refreshing to have found a path and a true teacher. My parents will be attending Thich Nhat Hanh’s Day of Mindfulness in New York City this October and if any of you are in the US and have the time I definitely recommend checking out his tour schedule (www.tnhtour.org), he also has two monasteries in the US—one in San Diego and one in New York and there are hundreds of interfaith communities of mindfulness all over the world! A few days ago my father celebrated his birthday. When I was at the Root Institute in Bodh Gaya last January I came across Thay’s book, “No Death, No Fear” in their library and the first page I opened to had the following passage which I included in the card to my father: “One day as I woke up I remembered the words of a folk song, ‘My father and mother have given me so much merit.’ Their merit is my generosity, love, forgiveness and capacity to offer joy and happiness to others. They have given me this precious inheritance. Our children are our continuation. We are our children and our children are us. If you have one or more children you have already been reborn in them. You can see you continuation body in your son or your daughter, but you have many more continuation bodies as well. They are in everyone you have touched. And you cannot know how many people your words, actions and thoughts have touched.”

I am so grateful to the brothers and sisters of Plum Village, to my ancestors, to all living beings and of course to all of you—we all continue in each other. Thank you for touching my life. During the first Dharma teaching Thay gave he said, “Who is the Buddha?  It’s you when you are full of love, understanding and peace. Sometimes you are the Buddha sometimes you are a part time Buddha. Whether you choose to be a full time or part time Buddha the choice is yours.” It’s really up to us, we choose. I’ve attached a beautiful song entitled “No Wait” sung by some of the nuns to this e-mail. When I first heard the song it brought tears of joy to my eyes, it felt as if the Buddha was speaking. I love the lyrics but my favorite lines are: “You are the farmer. You are your field. Tend to your land. And grow your freedom.”

I will be back in India next week and in the mean time I’m sending you all warm wishes from France! Now I’m off to stroll the streets of Bordeaux and mindfully eat French pastries, savoring each bite while looking deeply at the many miracles that have come together to make the delicious treats exist.

With Love from Bordeaux,

Meena

Pure Confidence of the Heart (My Dharma Name)

Summer Retreat Notes – Plum Village

Summer Retreat Notes

July 8^th – Thay Dharma Talk

Dharma festival of joy. Faith in the dharma never leaves me all the time eat, sleep wherever there is dharma there is the Buddha. Who is the Buddha? It’s you when you are full of love, understanding and peace. Sometimes you are the Buddha sometimes you are a part time Buddha. Whether you choose to be a full time or part time Buddha the choice is yours. The path of the Buddha is the path of peace, understanding and love. When you look for the Buddha look to yourself. You must be a human being in order to be a Buddha. The path of the Buddha is to live happily, and peacefully. If you are on the path of the Buddha you don’t need to worry, you know what to do and what not to do. Without a path you have confusion. Recognize the path clearly and walk on the path with joy. There is no reason to be fearful or confused. It is the path leading to peace, joy, happiness no matter what tradition. We share the dharma through our daily way of life. Whatever happens you cannot say it is good or bad it depends on how you handle what happens. Accept everything and have peace within oneself. Be calm and peaceful. Plum Village is a product of the Vietnam war. Nothing is good or bad but you have to handle things skillfully. Mindfulness transforms suffering and confusion. Offering to the root teacher (Buddha) look deeply, mindfulness, concentration and insight. Buddhist contribution to global spiritual ethic. Practice of Buddhism share with other traditions in the world…

July 9^th – Thay Dharma Talk

Listening to the sound of the bell brings a lot of joy and peace. Deep listening with heart, mind, and all cells in our body. Listen so the sound of the bell penetrates through our cells. It brings joy, peace and relaxation. I want children to be able to invite the bell to sound. The bell is a friend and we invite it so we can breathe and talk to the bell. Bell can you ring so I can practice listening deeply. Before we invite the bell we say. “Body, Speech and Mind is in perfect oneness (all 3 in harmony). I send my heart along with the sound of this bell (sound of the bell is sacred—my mind and heart in it) May the hearts awaken from forgetfulness (we live in dispersion, be really there and live deeply in every moment of our daily life, people live in forgetfulness, they talk of the future, past and are not there to live deeply. Forgetfulness is the absence of mindfulness. In Chinese the present moment and mind are the characters that make up mindfulness. When we bring the mind back to the present moment. When you are lost you are not really there. When you practice mindful breathing you bring your mind back to the body. “And transcend the path of anxiety and sorrow.” Wake the bell and invite it. When you hear the bell, “Listen, listen (not with ears but with mind and body and cells, peace penetrates you deeply) this wonderful sound brings me back to my true home” (home is the present moment). When we speak of the path it is the path leading to happiness and peace when we practice right thinking we see that that way of thinking is dualistic. The path is happiness itself. When you breathe in you ask what is the goal and purpose of this breathe. A deep breathe brings relaxation and peace to the body and mind but if we look deeply we must see the relaxation in the breath itself, the in breath has to be peace and relaxation itself. If you are suffering with that in breath that is not what you need. Every step you take should bring your happiness. There is a way of walking and stepping, each step should bring us happiness and pleasure.  There is no way to happiness, happiness is the way. The path we are speaking of is happiness itself. 5 trainings reflect the Buddha’s teaching of the 4 noble truths and 8 fold path. The 1^st is about protecting life. Life is precious. Quantum physics particles have intelligence, they are alive, protect the lives of animals, plants and minerals we are also animals, plants and minerals, protect those we protect ourselves. 2^nd training is about true happiness. The 3^rd is about true love. The 4^th is about harmony, mutual understanding, perfect communication, deep listening, loving speech brings harmony and mutual understanding. 5^th is about transformation , nourishment and family. Regarding true happiness the Buddha said it is possible to live happily now. Happiness is possible in the present moment. Practice consists of completely placing ourselves in the present moment to look deeply and we will always see that there are conditions of happiness already, what are we waiting for to be happy to celebrate? True happiness comes from inside, from within. Depends on your way of looking at things and responding and that way can bring either happiness or suffering, happiness is above all a state of mind. it does not come from outside.

True Love: appropriate attentions, compassion (helping others transform their suffering. We have to understand our own suffering), joy, equanimity (there is no boundary between the one who loves and the one who is loved, happiness is not a personal matter, total inclusion). Sexual desire is something different from love.

True Love is loving kindness, joy, inclusiveness, nondiscrimination, compassion

8 Fold Path – look deeply…why are there so many broken families…this is the path of ending broken families. 5 trainings are a concrete expression of the Buddha’s teachings on right understanding, true love leading to happiness, peace and transformation. Cultivate the right view, path of the Bodhisattva is not getting lost in the future or the past.

Q and A with Thay – July 12^th

How is it that you can see the good when everyone sees the bad?

You have to look deeply, you need time to look deeply, even bad things can produce good things.

Happiness has something to do with suffering. Suffering can instruct us. If you have not suffered you do not have the capacity to be happy (hungry and joy of eating example). In Plum Village we talk of the goodness of suffering and try to understand it. Suffering can bring good things like understanding and compassion. When you understand suffering you can then understand the other person.

Love is impossible without understanding. Take care of producing the lotus but not too much mud or it will drown.

Detached in true love…True love is a beautiful expression. The teachings of the Buddha are very clear, you have to cultivate true love through maîtri (loving kindness) which is  your capacity to bring happiness (not the willingness but capacity) to him. Are you capable of bringing happiness? In order to offer happiness you have to understand that person. Maîtri is for you too. In true love you have to make yourself happy. If you know how to make yourself happy it is very easy to make others happy. Compassion (transforming the suffering of others but you first have to understand their suffering in order to transform it), Joy (bring joy to yourself and the other person, this can be done at every moment. Equanimity (no separation from his suffering and your suffering—happiness is no longer an individual matter, non discrimination,)

Planning for the future…you can plan for your future when you are established in the present moment. You should not lose yourself in worries or fears of the future. But the Buddha does not say you should not plan but you should always be anchored in the present moment. The idea is that you should not lose yourself in the anxiety of the future and carried away. Being established in the present moment is important. You can bring the past to the present and look deeply at it to learn. You should study the past but you should not get lost in regret. Planning for the future can be done in the present moment. The present moment encompasses both the past and the future. You take care of the past and the present is you know how to be established in the present moment.

Is violence ever permissible…Violence means anger and fear and that you are not intelligent enough to solve the problem and you risk making the situation worse. When you have anger you will perform actions that bring more suffering and you cannot act skillfully. Transform fear and anger and you can have the energy of compassion and understanding. If you have a lot of fear and anger in you you can do more damage than good. The solution is not violence it is compassion and intelligence.

To do and to be…Suppose you look at a pine tree and ask why it is there. It’s presence is very important. We learn from the tree to be and to be is only to do. I should be solid, loving, refreshing like a tree. Whatever you choose behave like a tree always solid and peaceful and enjoy deeply what you do it does not matter what you do. You enjoy it so much like a tree.

Engaged Buddhism…has to do with your daily life, brushing you teeth, doing your dishes, interacting with your friends. The kind of Buddhism people often think of as  engaged is socially engaged but you know anything you do correctly will profit society like the pine tree gives us hope if you have peace and happiness it will affect the world in a positive way.

We have to see that we are the continuation of our parents. It is possible to have the same kind of tendency, that habit energy is in us and if it is not positive we have to transform it. Mindfulness is the beginning. Awareness leads to concentration and enables you to look deeply to fins a solution. Habit energy from your parents is stronger than you but when you are awake, when you are mindful then you recognize that habit energy.

July 13^th Dharma Talk

I’m here for you. That’s a practice. When we love someone you have to be there. If you are always absent then how can you love?

-       I am here for you is a real mantra but for it to be a mantra you need concentration. You have to be there concentrated. What you say when you are really there can be a mantra and will bring a miracle. You need to breathe for at least five seconds.

-       Darling, you are there and I’m so happy is the second mantra. When Descartes said “I think therefore I am” I don’t know is he knew that while he was thinking he was his thinking. Mr. Descartes you are but you are what? To be is to be something. This is a question of semantics—to be. But it is clear that when you are thinking you are your thinking. In Buddhism we are made up of skandas , aggregates (like and orange that has 5 sections) and each sections represents a part of a person. 1.Form (body), billions of cells, river flowing, life and death is happening all the time in ourselves. To meditate is to realize that. 2. Feelings, we like pleasant feelings and we can get attached to them. 30% of feelings are unpleasant. Neutral feelings are feelings of contentment and they can transform into pleasant feelings with mindfulness. The skillfull practitioner can transform neutral feelings into pleasant feelings with mindfulness. 3. Perceptions – we perceive things, trees surrounding us are objects of our perception there are correct perceptions and wrong perceptions, wrong perceptions bring suffering. 4. Mental formations, citta samskara. In Buddhism there are 51 mental formations, jealousy, fear, anxiety, love, understanding. We meditate to recognize the mental formations. “hello my little fear! I know you.” 5. Consciousness – mind consciousness, vijnana. We can imagine consciousness as earth, soil, like a garden there are seeds in the depths of the earth of our consciousness and these seeds are mental formations, bija. In Buddhism consciousness can be seen as having two levels, upper is the mind or mind consciousness and the lower part is our store consciousness. All 51 mental formations are buried in the depths of the store consciousness. We need to practice selective watering and water only the good seeds. We need intelligence, it’s an art. Vitaraka Vicara – thoughts as a mental formation. There is productive thinking and unproductive thinking. Unproductive thinking causes confusion. We need to know how to handle our thinking when we think too much and we have to stop in order to really live. Looking at the morning sunrise we have to just be there we don’t have to think about it. Descartes – you think so that’s all you are, your thought. In ourselves there are wonders represented by these 5 skandas and we can touch them in a direct way in walking meditation. We don’t thinking when we do walking meditation because it carries us into the past and future. The pure land of the Buddha is a reality. Deeply in touch with trees and in touch with the kingdom of god.

-       The kingdom of god is you, it is you, it’s here in the present moment it is now or never, it can heal you. Nourish you, breathing and walking in mindfulness you are in touch with god. Thinking isn’t everything you aren’t there and it carries you into the past and future. We need to know how to handle our thinking. We have to train ourselves to think in a positive way.

-       You have freedom. Free will exists when we bring our attention to our breath back to our body and are not carried away by circumstances we are ourselves.

-       In Buddhism we have Nirvana not god. So what is Nirvana? It is not something you seek, it is inhabiting you and a practitioner can touch Nirvana. It is available in the present moment.  I am going to help us see this. Look at a wave. There’s a beginning and end, a rise and a fall. When we qualify it (big, beautiful etc.) the wave suffers. The wave then wants to be more beautiful, it no longer enjoys its rise and fall and it suffers. Is there a way out. The wave can look at herself and it can get in touch with herself, it can discover that she is water. The wave can live her life as a wave. Water is free of all those notions. Water is nirvana. The wave is water in the present moment. H2O manifests in many forms. Water is always there. A cloud can become snow. Meditate, look deeply. Death doesn’t exist only continuation in other forms. Transmigration. Nirvana is the no birth, no death, inherent in every cloud, we are unborn, undying. We only suffer because like the wave we don’t know we are water.

-       You don’t look for Nirvana. Nirvana is your nature. Meditation is recognizing that and transforming all fear and all suffering. A practitioner recognizes skandas and produces mindfulness and brings relief. The greatest relief is only when you touch your true nature of no birth and no death and no fear. No fear, no death, no birth is the foundation of all true happiness. Look at this tea in the glass. See its true nature in the past was a cloud. When you drink tea you recognize that you are drinking a cloud. Death and birth don’t exist, death like birth is a notion. These are perceptions. Science can go with the dharma. Nirvana is the extinction of all ideas—god has to be nirvana. You have a wrong perception that your birth began at conception, conception is a moment of continuation, there is no nonbeing or being, these are notions. Nirvana is the silencing of all notions so reality can manifest in all its truth.

-       The knowable is the object of our perception. I perceive this blue sky—realm of the knowable. Knower and the knownà manifests at the same time. Without the known the knower can’t exist. To perceive is to always perceive something. Cognitive science says that consciousness exists inside and the world exists outside but in Buddhism that is wrong perception the known and the knower manifest at the same time.

-       Your Buddha nature is your capacity to touch no birth, no death and meditate on this which will bring you joy, freedom and fearlessness. Meditation brings a lot of happiness.

Trainings are not “Thou Shalt Nots” but rather it is expanding your heart and living more compassionately.

July 15^th

Imagine we are in a garden and every flower in the garden is a human being. A garden of humanity. When I look at a little boy or a little girl he/she is a flower in the garden of humanity. We are all flowers in the garden of humanity. As flowers we should be free, lovely and beautiful. Meditation can help us be flowers in this garden. To practice meditation is to preserve our beauty and freshness. As a flower we can make the world beautiful.

Pebble meditation…have children elected to be bell masters. Breathe in to calm yourself and breathe out to smile. The 1^st pebble is a flower (you do each one three times). Breating inI see myself as a flower. Breathing out I feel fresh. The human being is beautiful and when you do this you restore your flowerness, freshness. The 2^nd pebble is a mountain. You keep you pebble in your left hand and the bell master invites the bell. if you are not solid like a mountain you cannot be happy. You need solidity and stability. You need to learn how to sit like a mountain. Breathing in I see myself as a mountain. Breathing out I feel solid. Sitting on a lotus you feel light and fresh! Breathing in I see myself as a lotus. Breathing out I feel light.

Daily practice is to bring the mind back to the body. When the mind is not there with the body we are caught in our thinking, the body is there but the mind is elsewhere. Many ways to bring the mind and body as one. Practice mindful breathing and mindful walking. Body and mind may go in different directions but between the two there is something, our breath. Breathe in and out and naturally they will come together when we pay attention to our breath the mind goes back to the body. We breathe all day long but we don’t breathe mindfully so we are not concentrated. When you do walking meditation you can take two steps as you breathe in and 3 steps as you breathe out. Fully concentrated on your breath your body and mind are united. We enjoy our steps and instead of counting. Mindfulness energy brings the mind back to the body so you are fully present in the here and now and you know what is going on in the here and now—I am breathing. I am touching planet earth with my feet. We have to treasure every moment. Sati – pali, smrti – Sanskrit

People drink their tea but get lost in their fear, their worries. They don’t drink tea they drink their worries. Everyone of us can drink our tea mindfully. The energy of mindfulness is connected to the energy of concentration. Smrti, Samadhi and prajna are the 3 trainings. Concentration, insight and understanding. This insight is our inner grace. You suffer because you don’t understand. Salvation, liberation, emancipation come from deep understanding. We can realize what the Buddha realized. Buddha natureà everyone has the capacity to practice mindfulness, concentration and get insight you need which frees you from fear, jealousy and anger. Freedom is also happiness. A good practitioner knows how to bring each moment joy at any time to him/herself and to others.

In Buddhist tradition happiness must be understood in the context of suffering. A good practitioner knows how to bring relief to their suffering and the suffering of others. The Buddha teaches us 16 exercises of mindful breathing.

1. identify the in/out breath
2. follow the in/out breath all the way through with concentration, the more concentrated you are the more you enjoy
3. aware of your body
4. releasing tension in your body
5. bringing feelings of joy
6. bringing feelings of happiness (calmer than joy, joy has a bit of excitement and you need to make the distinction between the two. Letting go brings joy and happiness. Letting go of what? Letting go of what you happiness should be. Your idea of happiness is the very obstacle keeping you from being happy. You need to have courage to let go.)

Mindfulness is a source of happiness that you can generate at any moment. The Buddha was very concrete there are ways of practice that can bring joy, happiness and relief of suffering.

July 16^th

Pebble meditation continued…1^st flower  = freshness and beauty, 2^nd mountain = solid, stability. We are only happy when we have a flower and mountain in us. If you are not fresh you have hardly anything to offer another person. You have to practice for your freshness for it to be big enough to offer. “Mother, I offer you my freshness and my beauty.” Solidity of a mountain occurs when you are not crying or worrying. “Mom, I’m solid.” This is another gift. 3^rd pebble still water = calm, reflecting things as they are. We can look at the water and see the reflection of the blue sky. Take picture of the mountain in a lake. When we are calm we are at peace with ourselves and with other people. Breathing in still water I reflect things just as they are, there is no distortion. Imagine still water in you, tranquility. When we are calm we are happy. 4^th pebble space = freedom. No happiness without freedom. What is freedom? Freedom is space and if you love someone you have to offer them space and freedom. Space is something very precious, arranging flowers in such a way just the right amount of space is left in between each one, this has to be done for the flowers to radiate and express their beauty, we need space to shine. Be careful not to impose your way and you ideas. 1. Freshness for our well being and as a gift 2. Solidity are you dependable, reliable? Solid enough? If you are then you have something to offer. We cannot count on someone who is always changing their mind, they are not reliable. 3. Still water, do you have peace in your heart? You have to know how to bring calm to your body, feelings and emotions. 4. Space + freedom, darling I have a lot to offer, I have space.

Mindfulness as a source of happiness. It’s an energy that can be generated at any moment at any place. That energy can bring us in touch with the wonders of life. A good practitioner is one who knows how to bring a feeling of joy and happiness thanks to their insight, the fruit of their practice. The 1^st exercise is to identify in and out breath, 2^nd is to follow the in and out breath from start to end. The 4^th is relaxing, releasing and letting go of tensions in the body. The 5^th is bringing feelings of joy. 6^th is bringing feelings of happiness. We have to train ourselves to bring feelings of joy and happiness at any time for ourselves and for others. 7^th recognizing a painful feeling. Usually we want to escape suffering. The Buddha recommended we be there for our suffering. I’m not trying to run away or cover up suffering. On the contrary I want to be with it. the unpleasant feeling is there is me, it is the object of our recognition, subject is recognizing what? When suffering manifests we have to be there for it that’s why we have to breathe in mindfulness and recognize suffering. In Buddhism we speak of mind consciousness which is the upper layer and the store consciousness which is the lower layer. All our seeds—joy, pain, freedom, love, despair and hatred are all in this store house. Emotions are already there in the form of seeds (you or someone else has watered it) when anger is in the store consciousness it manifests at the mind level and when it is watered and becomes a mental formation and then we suffer. That painful feeling is inhabiting us and we suffer. In the store there is a seed of mindfulness and we have to invite that seed to manifest. Mindfulness seed I need you, I need you to manifest and take care of this mental formation. In the mind we have 2 zones of energy and we have to use the energy of mindfulness to take care of our anger, suffering and negative emotions.

Mindfulness first recognizes suffering with a completely nonviolent attitude, we don’t grasp on to it, fight it. this is called the practice of bearing recognition and it is the object of the 7^th exercise. You shouldn’t suppress you body. You have to take it in your arms with tenderness. This is nonduality. Buddhist meditation you are your suffering and you are your mindfulness taking care of your suffering. So there is a nonduality. Buddhist meditation is characterized by nonviolence, you are also your suffering and you embrace it with tenderness. The 8^th exercise is bringing relief, soothing just as in the physical realm but to feelings. You embrace the feeling with tenderness and nonviolence and bring relief. As a practitioner we have to be capable of doing this. If you aren’t solid enough in your practice then you need to ask the sangha to help you embrace and it and heal. Together you breath and combined energy of mindfulness you can recognize and embrace it. every practitioner needs a sangha. Let the pain come and as a practitioner you know exactly what to do. After having done that for a time it comes down to its original place as a seed. Hello my little suffering! I know you, I know how to take care of you. From suffering we become more understanding and compassionate. 9 months in a womb is the most pleasant time, no worries, no fears. The temperature is perfect, it is a very soft environment, cushion of liquid. In Vietnamese it is referred to as the palace, the womb. Our original fear and desire is to survive. The baby once it exits the womb is entirely dependant on someone else to survive. It has to learn how to control the situation. The baby feels powerless. I need someone to ensure my survival! I’m helpless and powerless! Left by myself I will die! The primal feelings of a child are up until now your fear as well. This is because you feel this original desire which is motivated by the original fear. You look for a partner that is the continuation of that desire, to have someone with you to ensure your survival, this desire is also the dear. There is a feeling of well being between two lovers. They feel calm, good and unafraid. You may think this pleasant feeling you have is from your partner but it is not because the baby in you said, “mommy, daddy is here.” The continuation of that primal fear and primal desire. Two years later the presence of that same person is a nuisance and you know feelings of peace is not the other person. If you are afraid of what other think about you, you are afraid if others think negatively you will be left all alone and in danger. You want to be accepted by others. We have to look deeply to see and identify the original fear and desire. Every desire and fear are only the continuation of the original. Download your adult wisdom to the little child in your store consciousness. Train to establish oneself in the present moment to leave the film of the past behind and walk together with love in the kingdom of the present moment. Say goodbye to the past and live deeply in the present moment and you have freedom. Talk to the child in you and transmit your wisdom. bring yourseld relief and freedom.

July 19^th

Q and A with Thay (Children’s Questions)

How did you become a monk? When Thay was very young, 7 or 8 I saw a picture of the Buddha, he was sitting on the grass very peacefully and beautifully and I was very impressed and I wanted to be like that. Later I learned about a hermit and our school organized for us to visit the mountain where the hermit lived. My classmates did not know walking meditation and I ran up the mountain and finished all of my water. When I got to the hermitage the hermit was not there but there was a well and when I drank the water from there it tasted so good and I felt very peaceful. I had no desire left. I thought that maybe the hermit had become the well. I feel into a deep sleep and when I woke I didn’t know where I was at first. I left the mountain with regret but was very silent and didn’t share my experience with the other boys and from that moment on I knew I wanted to be a monk. I had tasted the most delicious water in the world and then I nourished the idea of becoming a monk and became one at age 16.  But you should only be a monastic if it is your deepest desireHoHoHo.

Abusive father…only when looking deeply can you forgive him. Breathe in and recognize your habit energy. Hello habit energy, I know you are there. I will not let you take over. Simple Recognition and then use the energy of mindfulness to smile at the habit energy and it will lose its strength.

Love is the willingness, desire and capacity to make someone happy.

When fighting remember that the other boy is not the enemy the real enemy is the anger within in.

How would you describe god? Your question implies we can describe god with our ideas and words. But the other question is can we describe god with our ideas? It is hard to describe something even when it is something very simple. How do you describe the taste of a mango to someone who has never eaten a mango? It is quite impossible. Neti Neti (not this not that) This does not mean that God or mango does not exist. The best thing you can do is offer someone a mango and have them taste it for themselves. Touch god in the here and now. Walking meditation your mind comes back to your body so the mind and body are one. We don’t talk about god enjoy the kingdom. Don’t describe it, be with “god” 24/7.

Health care providers need to nourish themselves every day. When dealing with cancer patients you can tell them that there are other people out there without cancer that suffer more. Everyone will die one day, live deeply in the present moment.

Family where suicide occurs…for that person that killed themselves there is no more joy to be alive, to end the life is the only way to stop suffering and that person didn’t have the chance to meet the dharma. One of the things you can do to the family that has lost someone to suicide is to bring the dharma to them but the dharma without colors, without religion.

Setting up a school…this is a wonderful idea but you need to work together in harmony.  Collective view, collective insight…anyone can be a dharma teacher if their aspiration is strong and they have the support of the sangha.

July 20^th

We will go over the four mantras. 1. “Darling, I am here for you.” To be there is a practice. We train ourselves in mindful breathing. This will bring your mind back to the body. To love you have to be there. When you are really there you can look into the eyes of the one you love and tell them you are there. Product of practice—the most precious thing is your presence. Breathe in deeply, bring attention to your breath and then you are really there and you have your true presence. My dear, I am here for you, that is my gift. To love is to be there and offer your presence. If you are not there then how can you love. 2. “Darling, I know you are there and I am so happy.” The presence of the person in your life is extremely special. To be loved is to be recognized. If you love someone but you don’t pay attention to them that is not love. Recognizing the presence of the person you love is something precious in your life. 3. “Darling, I know you suffer, that is why I am here for you.” Love is bringing relief to the one you love. To love is to be there when the other person suffers. Imagine you suffer and suffer deeply. If the other person is aware that you suffer then they can do something. 4. “My dear I suffer. Please help me.” It is difficult to say this mantra because your pride is preventing you. In true love there is no place for pride. An idea can be dangerous—wrong perceptions.

Love above all is maîtri (goodness, kindness, brotherhood, sisterhood) the capacity to bring happiness, maîtri is not just the intention to bring happiness but the capacity. Love is an art, we have to be capably of offering well being. You have to deeply understand that person in order to love him or her. Karuna, transforms suffering of your loved one but in order to do that you have to understand their suffering. We need to have deep listening in order to have maîtri and compassion. We have to equip ourselves with compassion when we listen. Listening to help the other person, you must not interrupt just listen. You should use loving speech when you are trying to express what is in your heart. Mudita is joy, true love brings us joy and joy to the other person. Upeksha, inclusiveness, non discrimination is the fruit of looking deeply with that there will be peace, happiness and cooperation.

Story about writing poetry with the right hand…perfect harmony between the right and left hands. Upeksha, true love. I love you not because you like me I love you because I love you and those elements must be cultivated.

You don’t have to wait for another person, you can love without another person. Loving ourselves is the foundation for loving another, how can we care for another if we cannot care for ourselves. Understanding our suffering causes love to spring forth. Love is like light and this light comes from yourself. You have abundance within you. You understand your own suffering. You have joy and freedom and it radiates. You don’t need another person to begin loving. Love radiates and shines out. Love is different from need. Needing is not living. We started out needing when we were little and we could not survive without another and had no means to defend or protect ourselves. You must recognize the need but do not call it love that need is your primal desire/fear. If you need a partner that is a continuation of that fear. True love knows no need, it only knows abundance and even if someone does not show up for you you have that joy and abundance but that primal desire/fear is inside you and you keep looking for that partner. In asia we kiss with the nose, scent is familiar. In the west you kiss with the mouth, I think this is a continuation of sucking on our mothers breast for milk, a continuation of nursing. When you are filled with love you understand upeksha. You are like sunshine, this is the love of the Buddha. Distinguish between need and love, true love can make many people happy, love like the Buddha. Imagine 2 lovers sitting near each other. You may think that is an abundance. They can breathe relaxed but the presence of the other is not what brings them joy because if you look deeply you see it is the idea of continuation. Oh that person is there, I don’t need to be afraid. It is not the person, it is your idea to ensure your survival because in a year that person may cause you pain or become a nuisance. We have to look deeply and cultivate true love or we continue to suffer. Loving means having something to offer. Karuna, maîtri, have you understood your own suffering and given rise to understanding. In that case your presence to the world will benefit others in many different ways. The love cultivated through looking deeply is the love of the Buddha, true love.

Tibet’s Ashirwad (Blessings) in the Sky: Kailash and Mansarovar

Tibet’s Ashirwad (Blessings) in the Sky: Kailash and Mansarovar

“Pilgrimage is an activity common to many religions. The faithful set off on long journeys to particular places with the hope of creating virtue and gaining merit. What distinguishes Mount Kailash is that, for many people of different faiths in South and Central Asia, it is the holiest mountain on earth. It is sacred to the Bonpos, practitioners of the indigenous pre-Buddhist religion of Tibet. For Buddhists it is associated with adepts like the great yogi-poet Milarepa and is regarded as one of the sacred locations of the deities Shiva and Parvati. Moreover, even for those without a specific faith, the mountain’s physical form and colour make it a natural symbol of purity.” – His Holiness The Dalai Lama

Western Tibet seemed like a far off dream when I first heard of Asia’s most holy mountain and lake six years ago. There are few moments in our life that we never, ever forget and when I first laid eyes on Mount Kailash and Lake Mansarovar I was consumed with gratitude, bliss, peace, joy and complete awe. Words and pictures cannot capture the essence, enormity and spiritual ethos of this glorious mountain and lake.

My journey through Western Tibet was one of the more challenging experiences I’ve endured (physically, mentally and emotionally). It was as if I was experiencing joy and pain simultaneously because amidst this spiritually significant mountain and lake I witnessed a great deal of insincerity, disrespect and selfishness. I met quite a few pilgrims that had come all the way to Tibet to bathe in Lake Mansarovar, perform puja and attempt to complete the circumambulation of Mount Kailash yet they would treat others, especially Tibetans and Nepali sherpas with cruelty. I think the universe sent me to Kailash and Mansarovar to reinforce the teaching that ritual and pilgrimage means nothing if you don’t have a pure intention and at the end of the day all that really matters is having a good heart. Still, the sight of Kailash and Mansarovar is breathtaking and without a doubt the most amazing thing I’ve ever seen in my entire life.

For thousands of years Kailash and Mansarovar have played a significant role in the collective consciousness of Hindus, Buddhists, Jains and Sikhs. Lake Mansarovar represents the female or wisdom aspect of enlightenment and is a symbol of good fortune and fertility. According to Hindu mythology, Lord Vishnu floated in the lake for an eternity dreaming until the life force stirred and out of the water’s infinite potential sprang forth all of creation. Its highest point is 4650m and the distance around the lake is 110km and is surrounded by monasteries along the way. At a height of 6714m, Mount Kailash (kailasha means crystal in Sanskrit) is locally known as “Kang Rinpoche” which means “The Precious Jewel of the Snow.” Four rivers flow from Mount Kailash from its four faces in the cardinal directions (South = Karnali, West = Sutlej, North = Indus, East = Brahmaputra). For Hindus particularly, Kailash is the seat of Shiva Mahadeva. While there are numerous gods and idols in India, the two aspects under which God is most often worshipped are Shiva and Vishnu, for Shiva is God to the Advaitin (one who subscribes to nonduality) and Vishnu to the devotee who admits duality. Climbing the mountain is forbidden and the only people to have reached the top are the 11^th century Tibetan Buddhist Yogi-Poet, Milarepa and the founder of the Sikh faith, Guru Nanak Dev. Jains refer to Kailash as Ashtapada and believe that Rishabhadeva (the founder of their faith) attained liberation on this mountain. 

One parikrama (circumambulation) of Mount Kailash is said to erase the accumulated sins of a lifetime and 108 of these will ensure nirvana and completing a kora (Buddhist term for circumambulation) during the full moon (which is what I did) is worth 31 circumambulations. It takes 3 days to complete the 52km circuit (the first and third days are only a few hours but the second day is a full day) and if you are in good shape and have had experience doing physical activity in high altitudes (trekking in Ladakh would be great preparation) then the parikrama is doable. But if you are not physically fit attempting to complete the entire parikrama on foot can very dangerous. Seven people died during my parikrama (possibly more passed away but by the time I left Kailash on the third day seven had been confirmed dead) and I was one of two people (the other was a mountaineering expert who was completing his third circumambulation) that successfully completed the entire circuit on foot while carrying our own gear. Most non-Tibetans (Hindu pilgrims) hire a pony to ride around the mountain (but you still have to walk about 7km through steep, icy terrain because the ponies can’t manage that) which seemed totally sacrilegious to me. The reason why Kailash can be a death trap for some is because of the Dolma-La pass which is 5630m and you only have 40% oxygen that high up. Altitude sickness is very serious. I tagged along with a group of 40 Indian strangers to Tibet (otherwise it would have been impossible for me to sort out permits, transportation and lodging) and five had to be evacuated due to severe altitude sickness. In the end, only 15 attempted the parikrama, 11 on ponies and 4 on foot. After the first day the two men from Bangalore that had intended to complete the parikrama on foot opted for ponies to help them through the Dolma-La pass. Since it was high season for pilgrims even if I wanted a porter to carry my gear none were available. Everyone at Kailash base camp tried to dissuade me from going on foot—being a girl and carrying my own gear seemed impossible to them. But I had come this far and there was no way I was going to give up so I appeased them by taking an oxygen cylinder and I set off. And I figured if I’m going to kick the bucket anywhere there is no better place to die

Before officially beginning the parikrama I prostrated three times before the legendary Chorten Kangnyi that marks the start of the kora. I then cut a lock of my hair and left it among the hair of other pilgrims at the sky burial site of the 84 mahasiddhas. The only parts of our body that don’t contain prana (life force) are our hair and nails and when adept yogis light body and dissolve back into the elements all that remains are their hair and nails. Leaving a lock of my hair at this site symbolizes not only the intention to dissolve back into the elements when I “die” but it also signifies the old life I am leaving behind and the transformation that is supposed to occur during a pilgrimage. I said a prayer to Lord Ganesha to remove all obstacles, chanted Maha Mrityunjay (Om Tryambakam Yajamahe…) and the Refuge chant (Buddham Sharanam Gacchami…) and then with all my heart asked all of my Gurus (living and dead), ancestors and all of the enlightened beings to walk with me around the mountain.

Initially I tried to keep up with the mountaineer. This dude was hard core (the day before he had jumped into the icy, cold Mansarovar like it was nothing) and he would literally skip up the mountain and then take long breaks and move again at lightening speed laughing and singing. During our second break he was telling me how when you are on expedition literally every step matters immensely. Then a light bulb went off in my head and I thought about my beloved teacher, Thich Nhat Hanh and all of the walking meditation we did when he was in Delhi last fall. I told mountain man to go ahead and that I would be fine. I picked up my gear and coordinated each step with my breath and a line from my favorite gatha: “I have arrived. I am home. In the here. In the now. I am solid. I am free. In the Ultimate I dwell. Arrived. Home. Here. Now. Solid. Free. Ultimate. Dwell.” So I decided to mindfully walk the entire circuit! That first day as I climbed hundreds of pilgrims were coming down telling me that it was too difficult and a young girl like me will never make it with all y gear. In response I smiled, pressed my palms together and said, “Om Namah Shivaya. Lord Shiva is my father, he will take care of me” and pressed on. During my three-day journey around the mountain I just bathed in the beauty and glory of Kailash. You can literally see Lord Shiva’s face on the side of the mountain and in the morning Kailash glows like gold with the sun’s rays.

Before and during the parikrama I witnessed pilgrims act in the most selfish manner. Unfortunately, many of these individuals were also Brahmins. They had come all the way to Kailash to perform pilgrimage yet they had not yet understood the basics of spirituality. While I know you need to have the dark in order to have the light I’d rather not go into detail about the countless incidents or types of things I saw. Thich Nhat Hanh often talks about how we all have good seeds and bad seeds and we must water our good seeds and the good seeds of others. Throughout the yatra as I noticed the selfishness of others I became more aware of my own selfish tendencies. This whole transformation thing is tough but I guess the first step is recognizing our own unskillful behavior and when others behave cruelly we can use it as a lens to examine how we can be kinder, more compassionate and remind ourselves that we too can be cruel if we don’t water our good seeds.

On the eve of the parikrama I broke down in tears quite disillusioned. My heart hurt because here I was at my dream spiritual destination yet I mostly kept seeing cruelty, cheapness, insincerity and on top of that the extreme poverty of the Tibetan people. I asked Mahadeva why he had called me to Kailash—to lose my faith in humanity? As I wept the answer came and I knew that I had come to Kailash not to pray for Moksha or Nirvana but for collective awakening which is something my teacher, Thich Nhat Hanh, speaks about often. So as I mindfully walked around the mountain I prayed for everyone to become “awake” and in order to do so I must first be able to water my good seeds and the good seeds of others. Even with mindfully walking I somehow managed to be the first person to complete the entire parikrama on foot and I wasn’t even tired or sore at all. It was as if someone else was doing all the hard work!

So I didn’t have an out of body experience or see beings from other dimensions like yogis usually do at Mansarovar and Kailash but none of that stuff even matters to me any more. In fact, I didn’t even do a proper puja. I just lit some incense, prostrated before the mountain and lake and said, “Thank you. I’m so sorry for all of my unskillful actions. I love you. Help me be a good person and be of service to others.” I know this may seem sinful to some of you because I was fortunate enough to get to Kailash and Mansarovar and I didn’t even do a puja but I had to trust my heart and this is what felt right to me—anything else would have felt fake.

 According to the folks as Kailash base camp it’s likely that I’m the first Western woman under the age of 30 (and quite possibly the youngest non-Tibetan female) to have come to Kailash alone (without any friends, family, spiritual teacher or Sangha) in recent times to perform a pilgrimage and successfully complete the entire parikrama on foot without the help of a porter. Regardless of whether or not this is true I’m incredibly grateful to have the financial resources (it’s very expensive to get to Western Tibet), optimal health, and spiritual calling to have made this trip. Kailash has been my dream for so long and now I’ve been able to do sadhana (spiritual practice) at every site that is of great importance to me and while it is hard to articulate specifics in words I definitely do feel very different after completing this most auspicious yatra (pilgrimage)—I’m much more aware of my inner demons and self-cherishing nature and realize how important it is to constantly be mindful and water my good seeds.

During the yatra I spent more time with the various Nepali sherpas I met than other yatris. I found them to be more spiritual than any of the Indian pilgrims and they were all so very sweet and totally not sketchy. Being at least a few years older they all looked out for me like a little sister and were concerned that I had come all the way to Kailash and Mansarovar alone. In fact, they all called me “Bahini” which means little sister in Nepali. Their poor English and my pathetic Hindi made communication quite hilarious. One of my Nepali brothers was just so helpful, kind, generous, sincere and he was always smiling. When I asked him how he managed to always remain calm and cheerful under all circumstances he just laughed and said, “I don’t know Bahini, I think my face is just like this—always smiling.” I also met a Tamil Brahmin woman from Chennai during the yatra who was my mother’s age. She was shocked that I was born and raised in the US but had come to Kailash alone to complete the parikrama. This aunty took care of me like her very own daughter. When I asked her if she had a Guru she said, “direct Shiva-Linga itself” and I knew she was hardcore. We had many great discussions about shunya and nonduality and having her speak to me only in Tamil and call me affectionate names in my ancestral language made me feel so happy. She was always worried I wasn’t eating enough and would constantly give me snacks! I just feel so blessed that wherever I go people go out of their way to look after me. This aunty asked me if my parents were religious because I was so into all this stuff and I told her that they aren’t really religious but they are good people and that is far more important. My parents may not go to the temple all the time and do puja but they are far more evolved and enlightened than all of the charlatans I came across during my yatra (pilgrimage).  

I crossed into Tibet from the Nepal border. Chinese immigration was quite an ordeal (and Swine Flu only made things more complicated). I had to obtain a special (very expensive) permit to get to Kailash and Mansarovar since I am a US citizen. I came to Nepal early to have the permit sorted out at the Chinese Embassy and at one point while I was waiting for my passport to be returned I became totally neurotic and thought for sure I would be denied entry to Tibet because the Chinese government somehow knew about all of the petitions I’ve signed and protests I’ve partaken in to support my Tibetan brothers and sisters. But alas, I wasn’t on some black list and was able to get into Tibet with no problems. Still, you have to be very careful about your actions while in Tibet. I heard that a few Americans were arrested recently because the Buddhist monks they were talking to were actually Chinese spies.

It takes 5 days to get from the border to Mansarovar and Kailash (4 days of solid driving and one day to acclimatize) and the terrain is very challenging to navigate even in a Landcruiser.  The Tibetan landscapes are beautiful but there are very few places in Western Tibet with running water and electricity. I would have much rather camped than stayed in mud houses—I know this sounds totally obnoxious and American but they were extremely dirty and unhygienic. In fact, a few of the places I came across in Western Tibet just might be the dirtiest places I’ve ever experienced (imagine the dirtiest place in India and multiply it by 10). I got in touch with my inner sherpa during the pilgrimage because aside from my bath in Lake Mansarovar (where I obviously didn’t use soap or shampoo) I didn’t bathe for close to 16 days! My hair got so dirty and knotty that I started developing matted locks like Lord Shiva himself and had to unfortunately cut my long hair because it was just so damaged. There were very few places that had toilets (even compost ones) and you mostly did your business outside in the open—there was literally shit everywhere. It also felt like almost every Tibetan was always smoking and this was actually more difficult for me than the smell of shit.

The towns I visited on my way to Kailash and Mansarovar were very, very depressing and the poverty was immense and the main difference with India was that it was just a smaller population. It was challenging to communicate since “Tashi Delek” is the only Tibetan I know and hardly anyone speaks English. Tibetan girls would literally come up to me and ask for bindis and bangles but I didn’t have anything but the tiny earrings I was wearing which I just gave away. I also noticed Bollywood posters in some of the towns. I did meet a lovely young Tibetan girl named Kalsang who studied at TCV (the Tibetan Children’s Village) in Dharamsala and she now works as a tour guide. When she found out I was from the American Embassy School her face lit up and she gave me a huge hug. The American Embassy School has had a longstanding partnership with TCV and Kalsang has been to the American Embassy School many times.  She cried to me and told me about how horrible the situation is for Tibetans—it made my heart ache. One of her friends was killed during the uprising in Lhasa last March. She says that there is absolutely no free speech and that there are Chinese spies everywhere. She said to me, “Since you are from the American Embassy School I know you are not a spy and I feel safe talking to you.” Kalsang wants badly to visit India but she cannot cross the border and if she does she will never be able to return to Tibet.

Before and after my trip to Tibet I was able to spend some time in Nepal and see my very pregnant Nepali Didi, Neeta. The first night I arrived Neeta and her lovely husband, Garrett, treated me to “Fire and Ice”—which is a famous restaurant in Kathmandu and the best pizza I’ve eaten in Asia! Nepal is an absolutely fascinating, incredibly complex, very troubled, politically unstable country. I was finally able to read “Forget Kathmandu” by Manjushree Thapa. The book begins with the 2001 royal massacre and attempts to give a brief history of modern Nepal while also giving attention to the appeal of the Maoists to some Nepali’s. Unfortunately, the few days I was in Kathmandu there were strikes, everything was shut down and I was confined to my hotel room in the ultra touristy region of Thamel. I spent a few days in Pokhara when I first arrived which is the starting and ending point for the Annapurna circuit.  When I was in Pokhara I overheard some ignorant videshis (foreigners) cast off Nepali’s as “poor but happy mountain people” during their dinner conversation.  Did these folks have any clue about what is going on in Nepal?!?!?! On my way back from Pokhara to Kathmandu because of protests what was supposed to be a 7 hour journey turned into a 14 hour one! I would love to return to Nepal when things are more stable and get a better feel for the country. I find the Nepali people absolutely beautiful and I just love the diversity of their features and want to spend more time getting to know the Nepali people. Still, as much as I love living and traveling in Asia I’m looking forward to the fact that in a few hours I’m off to the airport and will be heading to North America for the first time in three years! At times while I was in Tibet instead of being “present” I found myself dreaming about bathrooms (I didn’t even care if they were clean), showers, water that I didn’t have to add purification tablets to and nutritious food.

Seriously though, I’m eternally grateful for being able to complete this yatra (pilgrimage) to one of the most sacred spots in the world. No doubt, the blessings of my ancestors, teachers and parents brought me to Kailash and Mansarovar. While I didn’t have any expectations for this journey I feel that the lessons I learned while on this pilgrimage were the most powerful ashirwad (blessings) I’ve ever received. Coming to Kailash and Mansarovar made me realize that we have to work hard to transform ourselves and be mindful and act skillfully—it’s a constant process of watering our good seeds and I have such a long way to go. In the Zen Buddhist tradition of my teacher we are taught to rely on ourselves.  We can’t just believe and have faith in something (even if it is a person like the Buddha). We have to take our destiny in our own hands in order to make the world a better place.

When the Buddha’s death was coming near he told Ananda that pilgrimage should be made to four places: where he was born, where he attained enlightenment, where he gave his first teaching, and where he died. The Buddha said that those that died while making pilgrimage with a faithful heart would be reborn in one of the heavenly realms. Ananda then asked what should be done with the remains of the Buddha’s body when he passed and he told Ananda not to worry about such things and to instead dedicate himself to his own spiritual welfare. At first this seems contradictory but it shows an important distinction between those who follow a path of action and those that strive for ultimate realization. There is a similar story in Hindu mythology where a group of Rishis are performing austerities and Lord Shiva appears to them disguised as a sadhu. He convinces the Rishis of his superior powers and they ask him for guidance and he tells them it is impossible to transcend action by means of action. This story is written as a Tamil poem by a well-known modern poet named Muruganar. But when Murunagar came to the passage giving Shiva’s instructions to the Rishis he asked the great Sage Ramana Maharshi to write it for him. Bhagavan writes: “The results of action pass away and yet leave seeds which cast the agent into an ocean of action. Action does not bring Release. But actions performed without any attachment, in the spirit of service to “God,” cleanse the mind and point the way to Release.” 

Maybe one day we’ll get there Ramana Maharshi but for now I’ll keep trying to water my good seeds and the good seeds of others

With Love & Eternal Blessings,

Meena

Gina’s Food Prayer

Bless the Earth that nourished this food;
The Farmer who grew this food;
The Cook who prepared this food;
My Body for keeping me happy, healthy, full of love and in the present;
And God for making it all possible.

Student Reactions to the Orange Meditation & Mindfulness

What follows are excerpts from my student’s reactions to an orange meditation activity I did with them and discussions on mindfulness and happiness.
Excerpts from Student Responses to the Orange Meditation & Mindfulness
At first I wasn’t exactly sure why we were to put so much thought into just an orange. Plainly there were the orange pickers, the sellers, and the market owners in line of the process of selling the oranges. However, when reminded of the poem that we read in class about how in order for this paper to have been made, a rainfall would have had to happen for the tree to grow and etc. I was then able to concentrate on the deeper meaning of the activity which was to get out of the trance of thinking that the orange is a simple matter, and should have been in my hands without the efforts and the natural process of a thousand events. Before the orange pickers, or even the farmers who planted the orange tree, the Earth had to exist. It may sound like an exaggeration to think about the pre-historic times just for an orange to have happened. But like all humans, and the current existence of you, me, and us, an orange took just as much amount of process. In conclusion, I learned that we shouldn’t take everything for granted but actually think about how it came to be and how much effort or time was put into just one simple existence and be thankful, thoughtful, and simply more aware of my surroundings. – Yeon Ju (Grade 9)

We all ate oranges mindfully. We thought about the orange very precisely. Where did it come from? How did it get here? What did the seed go through to become an orange. This really made me think more about the orange and realize its significance. – Gautam (Grade 9)

When we eat food at home we don’t think of what people went through just so we could enjoy our food. The process of when we started eating the orange I was actually thinking about what people did and for the first time in my life I felt as though I was thanking people I don’t even know. This helped me realize how fortunate I am. It also made me think how everything we eat and drink starts off as such a little thing and that we are dependent on other people in order to get our supply of food. – Akash (Grade 9)

I think mindfulness is very important to life, not just religiously, but in general. When one is aware of his or her surroundings, and pays attention to every little taste, smell, sight, and sound, life becomes a lot more enjoyable. The orange, for example, can be a whole experience, not just a snack, if a person takes the time to smell it, feel it, and get each texture and taste out of every mouthful. There were a lot of sounds and smells one wouldn’t notice if her or she didn’t take the time to stop and just sit quietly, observing and being aware. – Nikhil (Grade 9)

Slow eating involves you to think about the food such as people who bought it, grew it, moved them to stores etc. When we did that activity with the orange, I began to realize that there are a lot of things involved in that orange in order to grow. There is rain and sun involved in terms of nature, also people who grew it, and the meal they had to eat in order to work and people who moved them to stores. If we think about it deeply there is an almost infinity of things involved. - Kyu Min (Grade 9)

I think mindfulness means awareness. Awareness and thinking of everything that surrounds us. To understand this, we all got an orange and had to think of how it got in our hands, of all the people who worked for it to grow. We talked about how we didn’t take enough time to eat and think about all these people which are involved in it, which I think is true, we do not take enough time to savor the things we eat nor think about the work of others to make all this possible, we should be more aware of all this. – Mathis (Grade 9)

Happiness is cultivated by tackling the minute challenges during the day with mindfulness and without being burdened. I think that happiness, to a large extent, can be cultivated by one’s attitude in searching for it instead of dwelling on problems. It is a matter of resilience of the mind and the heart. I want to to continue to find reasons daily to be mindful, grateful, and happy in order to create a pattern of happiness that will lessen any obstacles such as anger, stress, materialism, jealousy, insecurity, and pessimism in my life. – Mary (Grade 12)
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Sogyal Rinpoche in Delhi

Last summer when I was in Ladakh I read Sogyal Rinpche’s Tibetan Book of Living and Dying which is easily one of the most important texts I’ve ever read. Sogyal Rinpoche was in Delhi a few weeks ago. Before I knew he would be in Delhi I had already planned a trip to Bali (which was amazing–I went to a surfing/yoga retreat for women). What follows are notes one of my Dharma friends took from his talk. Many of my friends who attended the talk said that Sogyal “woke them up.”

The Nature of Mind

Sogyal Rinpoche

April 10, 2009

 

The main purpose of our life – the heart of being human – is being happy

 

“My crown is in my heart, not on my head” Shakespeare

 

In the longing to be happy, we destroy our happiness as if it is our worst enemy – Shantideva, The Path of the Bodhisatva

The mind can make a heaven out of hell, or a hell out of heaven  - Pascal

 

The 3 Vehicles of Buddhism convey the essence of Buddha’s teachings:

1. Peace: “Commit not a single unwholesome action”; “At least do no harm” (Hinayana Tradition)
2. Compassion: “Cultivate virtue”; loving-kindness, bodhicitta (Mahayana Tradition)
3. Wisdom: “Tame this mind”; purification, transformation (Vajrayana Tradition)

True mind is already present in us but encased in the ordinary mind

 

The fault of the mind is that is sees self and experience as:

• Permanent
• Singular
• Independent

 Samsara: Mind turned outward, lost in its projections

Nirvana: Mind turned inward, recognizing its true nature

 

Understanding the nature of your mind gives you the opportunity to “own your mind” not in an outwardly grasping way. . .but from inside

 

To see a painting in the dark, you need a candle that is still and bright

Shamata > creates stillness

Vipassana > creates brightness

 

Shamata with support: use of an image, mantra, breath, chanting, bell, senses, thoughts, emotions, as focal points, has effect of calming mind, like putting a baby to sleep

Shamata without support: Mind is rested, “chilled out”, in a state of non-distraction, just being

 

In using thoughts and emotions as focus of meditation:

1. In the beginning, it becomes like watching a movie, where you are looking at your life but less entangled
2. Later, the thoughts and emotions dissolve, there is a gap

When meditating:

25% mindfulness

25% awareness – loving vigilance, looking out

50% abiding spaciously

 

Just as water when you don’t stir it will become clear, so with mind, when it is left unaltered, it will find its true peace

 

“Machupa” natural, authentic, unaltered

“Manzupa” not grasping

 

The key is not altering. Mind in its natural state is like a crystal, luminous

 

Just as space is not defined by what passes through it, so mind is not defined by the thoughts or emotions passing through

 

It is not the appearances, the phenomena, that bind us. It is the grasping.

Emptiness is not nothingness. It means pure experience, empty of projections, concepts, storylines, unaltered

 

“Death is like a mirror reflecting the true nature of life”

 

When we die we touch the ground luminosity of our deepest nature, the mother luminosity.

The teachings are like the path luminosity, the child luminosity that leads us, gives us a glimpse of the great luminosity. So when we die, if we have been fortunate to receive the teachings of the path or child luminosity, we will recognize the ground, the mother luminosity.

 

There are 3 kinds of faith:

1. eager faith: longing, like thirst in a desert
2. vivid faith: recognition, inspiration; like finding an oasis in a desert
3. confident faith: trusting that one has found something essential; like trusting that drinking water will restore health, quench one’s thirst

For more on Sogyol Rinpoche’s teachings:

Rigpa Center for Tibetan Buddhism

http://www.rigpa.org/

 

 

 

SLOW…

The past days have made me think a lot of about slowness and in our Sangha yesterday the following was shared by my dear Sangha brother, Michael:

BUSY BUSY BUSY

Laughter. Angers. A swirl of conversation. A rush of foot traffic in every direction. Stop for a moment. Become a rock which redirects currents in multiple directions. Bodies and voices are going everywhere at once. Do any know where they are or where they will end up? Do they care?

Is the movement the meaning? Are the words simply a musical accompaniment to endless purposeless search? The sun rises, the sun sets, thunder rolls, rain falls, the sky clears, and up and down the street people rush rush rush. He she who is still, who is no longer part of the swirl, becomes suspect. Those passing look suspiciously at any solitary figure. Has he no purpose? Is she lost? Is there danger here? Move swiftly away, swiftly forget. No time to worry about the lost, the silent, the ones who move too slowly. Pick up your feet, accelerate, must not be left behind. – Michael L. Newell

There is a pervasive form of contemporary violence to which the idealist…most easily succumbs: activism and overwork. The rush and pressure of modern life are a form, perhaps the most common form, of its innate violence. To allow oneself to be carried away by the multitude of conflicting concerns, to surrender to too many demands, to commit oneself to too many projects, to want to help everyone in everything, is to succumb to violence…It destroys the fruitfulness of one’s own work, because it kills the root of inner wisdom which makes work fruitful. – Thomas Merton

Despite our good hearts and equally good intentions, our life and work rarely feel light, pleasant or healing. Instead, as it all piles endlessly upon itself, the whole experience of being alive begins to melt into one enormous obligation. It becomes the standard greeting everywhere: “I am so busy.” We say this to one another with no small degree of pride, as if our real exhaustion were a trophy, our ability to withstand stress a mark of real character. – Wayne Mueller

This is what we mean by the term spiritual: It is the ecstatic force that stirs all our goals. When we perceive it, it is as if our mind were gliding for a while with an eternal current. – Abraham Heschel