Practice

All Things Are Like This

Gill Washington Dogen, Practice, Zen , , , , 0 Comment

From Enlightenment Unfolds – The Essential Teachings of Zen Master Dogen

Edited by Kazuaki Tanahashi

When dharma does not fill your whole body and mind, you may assume it is already sufficient. When dharma fills your body and mind, you understand that something is missing. For example, when you sail out in a boat to the middle of an ocean where no land is in sight, and view the four directions, the ocean looks circular, and does not look any other way. But the ocean is neither round nor square; its features are infinite in variety. It is like a palace. It is like a jewel. It only looks circular as far as you can see at that time. All things are like this.

Though there are many features in the dusty world and the world beyond conditions, you see and understand only what your eye of practice can reach. In order to learn the nature of the myriad things, you must know that although they may look round or square, the other features of oceans and mountains are infinite in variety; whole worlds are there. It is so not only around you, but also directly beneath your feet, or in a drop of water.

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Egocentricity and Getting Impersonal

Gill Washington Buddhist Writings, Cheri Huber, Practice, Spirituality, Suffering, Zen , , , 0 Comment

The following passages are from Trying to be Human

By Cheri Huber, Edited by Sara Jenkins

Egocentricity

Egocentricity is the process of wanting something other than what is. Egocentricity means there is an “I” who is separate from everything else and doesn’t like it; one thing is happening, but I want a different thing to be happening. Egocentricity is that constant concern with how I feel, what I think, what I’m doing, what I want – looking at what is and seeing it as inadequate. My identity is maintained by the struggle of wanting something other than what is; that is how I continue to know myself.

This practice involves finding a willingness to suffer in order to end our suffering. Instead of spending our time trying to avoid suffering, we just find the willingness to go directly into it. Whenever anything causes us to suffer, we can know two things: suffering is the same as egocentricity, and when it arises, that is our best opportunity to end suffering. As we open to our suffering,as we embrace it, as we accept it, our relationship to it changes. It is no longer something horrible, something to escape from. Suffering becomes just another opportunity, another chance for freedom.

Please find out about that for yourself.

 

Getting Impersonal

One thing I like about practicing with a group is that we begin to see how impersonal it all is – all our melodramas that can seem so terribly personal. If we spent six months together, we all would know each other’s life stories, and it would be the same story. One person lives in Toledo, another one lives in Shanghai, but it is the same story. Being a human being is pretty much the same for all of us; the differences are far, far less than the similarities. What we think, what we fear, how our emotions arise – fundamentally, we are very much alike. We get caught up in differences in content because that is how we experience ourselves as separate.

Working in a group enables us to see not only how we are all attached to the same things, but how, when we are attached, we suffer, and how, when we come back to the present moment, we cease to suffer. It’s that straightforward.

As we see the sameness of our experience, our suffering becomes less charged:our story is one more story among countless stories. It becomes easier to find the courage to bring our attention back to the present, to allow whatever happens simply to happen.

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Conscious Drifting

Gill Washington Buddhist Writings, Lama Surya Das, One, Practice , , , , 0 Comment

Finding the Natural Meditations in Your Own Life

From Awakening to the Sacred

By Lama Surya Das

Natural mind or primordial intelligence informs those moments when we are most true to ourselves. These moments often occur when we are doing something I like to call “conscious drifting.” Conscious drifting helps us get a glimpse of our natural Eden-like state. This is something we already are, not something we have to be injected with or acquire from anyone else.

Here are some examples of conscious drifting: staring at an ocean, lake, pond, river, waterfall, forest, or garden. Surprisingly enough, I think that fishing is for many people an instinctive expression of the human longing for peace, space, alone time, and a natural form of contemplative sweetness. One of my brother’s mathematician friends spends a good part of each evening in the bathtub with a swiveling tray that holds papers filled with scrawled equations over his watery lap. Driving to my local post office, I often see a woman ambling along with her large dog. They both seem very happy. Conscious drifting has nothing to do with shirking responsibility, not to mention thinking or worrying. Quite the opposite. The symbol Thich Nhat Hanh chose for his hermitage at Plum Village in southern France is a hammock, which more than anything else expresses what “drifting” means.

You can drift with others. “Let’s take a walk,” we say to a mate or a friend. Then without a real destination, we head off. “I think there’s a concert in the park. We could listen to some music. Or maybe ride the paddleboats.” Drifting is letting things happen. Letting the mind drift. Sitting in the rocking chair and letting the clouds drift by. The secret inner aspect of this practice is relinquishing control by surrendering and trusting. Everything will be fine; what’s the big deal?

Why is conscious drifting a spiritual practice? Because it helps us connect to our inner being. Our innate aliveness. Just being. To just be for a minute without trying to do anything; this is a spiritual discipline. It helps bring us more into the spirit of the moment-a spontaneous expression of oneness. We are in the right place at the right time. We can afford to just be there and enjoy it. Nothing special is required.

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Spiritual Life from Scratch

Gill Washington Buddhist Writings, Lama Surya Das, Practice, Spirituality , , , , , , , 0 Comment

The following is taken from the book Awakening the Buddha Within – Tibetan Wisdom for the Western World’ by Lama Surya Das. It has become one of my favourite books, and I would strongly recommend you buy a copy. Lama Surya Das is the most highly trained American Lama in the Tibetan tradition and presents a comprehensive book full of wisdom.

Tips and Pointers for Building a Spiritual Life from Scratch

By Lama Surya Das

Pray
Meditate
Be aware/ Stay awake
Bow
Practice yoga
Feel
Chant and sing
Breathe and smile
Relax / Enjoy /Laugh / Play
Create / Envision
Let go / Forgive / Accept
Walk / Exercise / Move
Work / Serve / Contribute
Listen / Learn / Inquire
Consider / Reflect
Cultivate oneself / Enhance competencies
Cultivate contentment
Cultivate flexibility
Cultivate friendship and collaboration
Open up / Expand / Include
Lighten up
Dream
Celebrate and appreciate
Give thanks
Evolve
Love
Share / Give / Receive
Walk softly / Live gently
Expand / Radiate / Dissolve
Simplify
Surrender / Trust
Be born anew

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Fresh Start

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From: The Places That Scare You

By Pema Chödrön

Forgiveness is an essential ingredient of bodhichitta practice. It allows us to let go of the past and make a fresh start.

When a close friend of mine was dying, a Tibetan teacher told her to review her life with honesty and compassion. This process led her to some pretty dark places, corners of her mind where she was stuck in guilt and resentment. The teacher then instructed her in forgiveness, saying that the most important thing to do was to forgive herself. He suggested that she do a variation on tonglen. She should begin by visualizing herself and then intentionally bring up all her life’s regrets. The point was not to dwell in painful memories but to contact the feelings underlying the pain: guilt or shame, confusion or remorse. The feelings didn’t have to be named; she was to contact the stuckness in a nonverbal way.

The next step was to breathe these feelings into her heart, opening it as wide as she possibly could, and then to send herself forgiveness.fter that, she was to think of others feeling the same anguish and to breathe their pain and hers into her heart and to send everyone for- giveness. My friend found this to be a healing process. It allowed her to make amends with those she had hurt and those who had hurt her. She was able to let go of her shame and anger before she died.

A woman who came to Gampo Abbey for a tonglen retreat had suffered severe sexual abuse from her father. She strongly identified with caged birds; she told me that she often felt like a bird in a cage. During tonglen, she would breathe in the feeling of being small and caged; on the outbreath she would open the door and let all the birds out. One day as she was sending and taking in this way, she experienced one of the birds flying out and landing on a man’s shoulder. Then the man turned around and she saw it was her father. For the first time in her life she was able to forgive him.

Forgiveness, it seems, cannot be forced. When we are brave enough to open our hearts to ourselves, however, forgiveness will emerge.

There is a simple practice we can do to cultivate for- giveness. First we acknowledge what we feel-shame, revenge, embarrassment, remorse. Then we forgive ourselves for being human. Then, in the spirit of not wallowing in the pain, we let go and make a fresh start. We don’t have to carry the burden with us anymore. We can acknowledge, forgive, and start anew. If we practice this way, little by little we’ll learn to abide with the feeling of regret for having hurt ourselves and others. We will also learn self-forgiveness. Eventually, at our own speed, we’ll even find our capacity to forgive those who have done us harm. We will discover forgiveness as a natural expression of the open heart, an expression of our basic goodness. This potential is inherent in every moment. Each moment is an opportunity to make a fresh start.

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