Encouragement for Our Bodhisattva Intention: Part 1 – Being Willing March 15, 2015 In the end, our life won’t just evaporate like a puddle of water in the hot sun. In fact, even a puddle of water does not just disappear into nothingness. The molecules remain in a different form, since atoms do not just disintegrate. If we do think that life is like this, then our life Read More »
Prerequisites for Renunciation, Part 3 February 17, 2015 Part 3 In moving toward some degree of renunciation, our first step is to be open and nonjudgmental about our suffering, not feeling guilty about it. Judgment and guilt will cloud our minds, preventing our intelligence from coming through. Knowledge leads to understanding and understanding to wisdom. Knowledge is information. It is what you hear Read More »
Working with Attachments: Part 1 – Facing One’s Mind Before Facing One’s Situation February 11, 2015 We need to recognize the source of our problems and the source of all our perceived threats. We must try to see how they arise from our “self,” and more specifically from our grasping to the self. When we have the feeling of being sucked into a situation, when we feel emotionally drained, or when Read More »
Prerequisites for Renunciation: Part 1 December 29, 2014 I’d like to address the theme of renunciation. This word, this idea of “renunciation,” as it is meant in the Buddhist teachings and particularly in the Hinayana teachings, provokes wildly different reactions among people. People will respond differently to this word depending upon where they are in their lives, their levels of suffering, and with Read More »
You Are Not Your Reactions – Part 3 November 19, 2014 Cultivating the kind of detached awareness that I’ve mentioned allows us to develop a maturity regarding our emotional reactions. We gain a perspective that is balanced, not viewing the emotions as “black and white”, so we find that we no longer feel a need to react aggressively or judge our own behavior. Instead of suppressing Read More »
You Are Not Your Reactions – Part 2 November 15, 2014 As Shantideva says in the The Way of the Bodhisattva, when someone goes to war they study their opponent. This is how we have to study our disturbing emotions (Sanskrit: kleshas). These “poisons” are in certain ways nothing but our own reactions. When you can regard them from a mature viewpoint, with a developed awareness Read More »
You Are Not Your Reactions, Part 1 September 16, 2014 It is very important to recognize that the reactions we feel are not necessarily who we are. These reactions that seem part of us, how we react, are very much about who we were as beings in the past. Whether we’re speaking of our physical actions, our speech, or the activity of our mind, especially Read More »
Remedying A Shaky Mind: Part 3 – Acknowledging Our True Strengths May 6, 2014 Recalling what we covered previously, choosing faith is the first remedy that gives us strength in difficult situations. This, in turn, brings about the possibility of surrendering as the second remedy. The third and final remedy which I’d like to explain is the genuine and sincere acknowledgement that these two are indeed truly important strengths, Read More »
Remedying a Shaky Mind: Part 2 – Accepting All Outcomes April 30, 2014 Last week we spoke about choosing faith as a remedy for the ordeal of a shaky mind. To deliberately choose to have faith in the goodness of people and the world, along with the Three Jewels, will warm the heart that has descended into fearful iciness. This choice of faith will remove the “super anxiety” Read More »
Remedying a Shaky Mind: Part 1 – Choosing Faith April 22, 2014 Lately, I’ve heard a lot about people who possess kind natures and good qualities, yet who are haunted by feelings that shake them deeply from within. As one of my friends puts it, she feels shaky inside “at the very depth of her core.” So I would like to speak about how to relate to Read More »