Monthly Archives: April 2013
Tonglen meditation
All-Embracing Compassion: The Heart-Practice of Tonglen. As human beings, we have a very interesting habit of resisting what is unpleasant and seeking what is pleasurable. We resist, avoid, and deny suffering and we continually grasp at pleasure. If we observe our behavior, it is easy to see that we habitually resist and avoid people, situations, and feelings we consider to be painful, unpleasant, or uncomfortable, and we are naturally attracted to people, situations, and feelings we consider pleasant, comfortable, and gratifying.
According to Buddhist teachings, this behavior is a symptom of fundamental ignorance and is influenced by the defilements of greed (attachment), hatred (aversion), and delusion (misperception of reality). To break the spell of this dualistic perception, to dissolve the barriers in our hearts that keep us feeling separate from others, and to cultivate a deep compassion for all living beings, including ourselves, we need to meet and embrace reality in a radically new way.
The price
If I told you that I could make you truly happy. So happy that you would feel like bursting. And not just today, but for the rest of your life.
I would make your life utter bliss. How much would you be willing to pay?
I mean really. People pay gladly to have their breast made bigger. But happiness for the rest of your life?
OK, now you have decided on a figure. And you are not a cheap person, so it was probably a large number.
That “figure” is what you are now paying for not being happy, living the material life of the west.
All buddha’s
In the suffering is also the possibility of becoming enlightened. And the Buddha often tried to teach his followers by asking difficult questions.
So you may consider every person you meet to be a Buddha, who is trying to teach you something, or giving you a challenge.
That is one of my most important mantras. I always think about what I can learn from the people i meet. Especially the difficult ones.
Split personality
“I can’t stand my self, i can’t live with my self”
“I am ashamed of my self”
“I am always pushing my self”
“I am afraid I will not live up to peoples expectations”
Think about this very common thoughts. There is no doubt whatsoever that there is two parties involved.
There is “I” and “myself”.
Buddhism is about becoming myself, and choking the “I”.
The western condition is that we have been hi-jacked by some alien being, that keep tormenting us.
In the East they have been educated to not let the “I” take over your life.
Don’t strive
What I am is what I want to be. I am already perfect.
If I crave to be somewhere or someone else, then I do not appriciate my self or this place.
Make peace with the condition or place or mood.
Don’t strive or crave. Be.
Feeling of loss
The feeling of clinging or loss is everywhere.
When you say goodbye to friends, when you wake up in the morning, when switching channels on the TV.
There is freedom in practicing to letting go.
Say “I let go without the feeling of loss. I embrace the new moment.”
Whenever I light an incense stick i say; “I make this offering without the feeling of loss”. It reminds me always to let go of the passing moment, to embrace the next moment.
Be good to yourself
Be kind to yourself.
Love yourself.
If you are hurting or sad or lonely, honor that.
Make time for yourself.
Let yourself heal.
Don’t expect so much of yourself.
Life can be downright brutal.
Let the love within you and others carry you through.
In time, you will see how much you have learned.
It is worth the journey.
Just ask people who almost lost their lives and
they will tell you that most of the stuff we fret
over isn’t that important.
Being alive is a great gift.
Don’t define yourself in such narrow terms as your work,
your body, your house, your kids, or your relationships.
Learn to see what is precious around you each day.
Do not take your good fortune for granted.
Be thankful and humble.
You do not have to justify your life with a big list of accomplishments.
Try to experience just being alive.
Try to belive in yourself, don’t look at this world.
Find your path and don’t give up .
Try deep meditation and spiritual evolution.
Is that the answer?
Every answer you get that has a voice is an ego-answer. There must be absolutely quite in your head if you want to hear your inner “voice”, your being.
Every break through I have ever made came to me without a voice. I could see the answer. The words came later.
Mechanism to create unhappiness
Mind will never allow you to be happy. Whatsoever the condition, the mind will always find something to be unhappy about. Let me say it in this way: mind is a mechanism to create unhappiness. Its whole function is to create unhappiness.
If you drop the mind, suddenly you become happy…for no reason at all. Then happiness is just natural, as you breathe. For breathing, you need not be even aware. You simply go on breathing. Conscious, unconscious, awake, asleep, you go on breathing. Happiness is exactly like that.
That’s why in the East we say that happiness is your innermost nature. It needs no outside condition; it is simply there, it is you. Bliss is your natural state; it is not an achievement. If you simply get out of the mechanism of the mind, you start feeling blissful.
Be nude
Once in a while, whenever the opportunity is possible and nobody is disturbed by your being nude, be nude. I am not telling you to go nude in the marketplace, but whenever the opportunity arrives and whenever you can be nude in the sun and in the wind and in the rain, be. Just by dropping the clothes you will feel a tremendous liberation — because your clothes are representative of your civilization, of your conditioning.