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I’m not gonna say I’m a big, Sci-fi geek,
but when I hear the term “Precious Human Life”
I can’t help but think of Gollum from JR Tolken’s "The Hobbit".
But when we use the phrase “Precious Human Life”
what we’re really talking about is:
#1 possessing a golden opportunity and
#2 making the most of it.
By now you’ve heard me teach you many, many times,
NOT to rely upon faith, for:
• it is connected to fear,
• it feeds on rigidity,
• it gives birth to aggression and
• leads to suffering.
So instead of taking the traditional approach,
which is steeped in fear and dogma
let’s explore a more pragmatic approach.
Yes, if you look hard enough
we can always contrive reasons for resentment and despair.
Yes, the argument could be made that neither,
our minds, hearts, bodies or circumstances are perfect.
So what?
Wouldn’t it be cool…
wouldn’t it be delightfully subversive
if our flawed, silly lives were golden opportunities for
rapidly accomplishing full enlightenment and
then helping others do likewise?
It could be very difficult to both learn and practice Dharma if
we lived in a war zone, or
our family was a war zone, or
our hearts and minds were filled with intense violence.
If right now, we enjoy freedom from those obstacles then
we have a golden opportunity.
It could be very difficult to both learn and practice Dharma if
we were dying of dehydration or
if we were enfeebled by the lethargy that comes from utter starvation.
If right now, we enjoy freedom from those obstacles then
we have a golden opportunity.
It could be very difficult to both learn and practice Dharma if
we were animals, with out the neurological capacity or even the
physiological capacity to do so.
If right now, we enjoy freedom from those obstacles then
we have a golden opportunity.
It could be very difficult to both learn and practice Dharma if
we were utter slaves, totally exploited and horribly taken advantage of.
In the 20th century in America we have it really good, don’t we?
If right now, we enjoy freedom from those obstacles then
we have a golden opportunity.
It would be very difficult to both learn and practice Dharma if
we were greedy, cruel and exploitive predators.
Then the very notion of love and compassion could be physically repulsive.
If right now, we enjoy freedom from those obstacles then
we have a golden opportunity.
It could be very difficult to both learn and practice Dharma if
we were utterly obsessed with competition and pettiness.
If right now, we enjoy freedom from those obstacles then
we have a golden opportunity.
It could be very difficult to both learn and practice Dharma if
like Thurston Howel the Third
we had no real personal experience of suffering to
nudge us forward on the spiritual path or
no real awareness of other people’s sufferings to
give birth to love or compassion in our hearts.
If right now, we enjoy freedom from those obstacles then
we have a golden opportunity.
Come, let us make the most of the golden opportunity we've received!
Have you registered for the Friday series of weekly webinars?
It begins January 7th.
May you and yours be
happy and healthy!
Om Mani Padme Hum,
.
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“It is a mistake to confuse enthusiasm with wisdom.
It’s NOT uncommon for Dharma students to get so enthusiastic
that they fill their entire schedules with dharma and dharma related activities.
Big mistake.
How could that be a big mistake?
Because if we leave NO time in our schedules to
• breath,
• smile,
• play,
• screw,
• sleep and
• be an all around happy camper,
we’ll be creating the causes to be cranky bastards…
and no one wants that.
That is why in the pith instructions it is written,
“Do NOT turn a God into a Demon,”
or in other words
even something as good as Buddha’s Dharma,
if misapplied, could be profoundly destructive.
For instance, if we hold onto our understanding of the teachings too tightly
then we aren’t leaving room for greater insight and growth.
Let us explore this by way of contrast.
One student insists, “This is the truth….”
{can you sense his rigidity?}
a second student says, “This is what I was told…”
{could you sense this guy’s flexibility?}.
The more rigid we are
the less possibilities we experience,
whereas the more flexible we are
the vaster is the universe of possibility that we inhabit.
Many years ago,
I went a great period of time limiting my reading
to spiritual texts, exclusively.
That was a big mistake.
So my teacher recommended that I lighten up
and read both novels as well comic books
such as “Calvin and Hobbes” or “Garfield.”
I followed my teacher’s guidance,
and so ushered into my life,
a new series of playfulness, ease and consequentially realizations and growth
that had been impossible when I was over-working myself.
Yes asceticism can wear many masks,
including that of an enthusiastic scholar or a rigid dogmatist.
Come let us follow Buddha’s example and traverse the middle way
between asceticism and over indulgent foolishness.
But how can we know whether an activity is beneficial or destructive?
Simply dialog with the Buddha of Compassion.
You don’t know how?
Then find a lama to teach you this easy technique,
that you too might walk in the footsteps of:
• Chandragomin,
• Chandrakirti,
• Gelongma Palmo,
• Tsongkhapa,
• Jigme Lingpa,
• Kyergangpa, and
• Mingyur Namkhai Dorje.
The Friday series of weekly webinars begins January 7th.
May you and yours be
happy and healthy!
Om Mani Padme Hum,
.
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“I’m not sure if I’m reading the answer correctly,” she confessed,
was the key to her reluctance to practice
the techniques that would allow her to Dialog
with the Buddha of compassion.
Come back stage with me,
as we take a look at the reason,
BEHIND the reason.
“I’m doing this correctly.”
“I’m reading this accurately.”
“I’m getting the right answer.”
Could you sense the rigidity in these statements?
Could you further open the door to your perception
and sense the fear behind these statements,
that the rigidity is striving to compensate for?
Friends, trying to believe your way out of fear
is like trying to fu%k in the name of virginity.
Belief is a rigidity that strives to overcome fear.
But it is a rigidity that strives and fails.
Let us NOT run away from fear,
and hide coweringly behind the paper lion of our beliefs.
I don’t want bad things
or even inconvenient things
to happen
but sometimes they do anyway.
If we rigidly strive to prevent
every unpleasant potentiality from occurring
how are we going to develop the habit
of elegantly rolling with the punches?
What is the opposite of rigidity?
Could it be flexibility?
Let’s bring flexibility into the arena
of Dialoging with the Buddha of Compassion.
Do we know, if we are actually
conversing with the Buddha of Compassion?
Nope.
But would we like to?
Yeah, sure, you bet’cha!
Do we know, if we are actually getting
the exact answer we need in the specific moment?
Of course not.
But would we like that answer?
Yes!
Come let us stare our worst nightmares right in the face.
Let us NOT foolishly try to push them away with contrived belief.
As a weapon against fear,
faith is as flaccid as a wet noodle.
Throw that weapon aside and pick up another one.
How about flexible desire?
Yes, I’d like to dialog with Chenrezig.
No, I don’t know if these techniques will work,
so let’s use them and see what results we get.
Yes, I’d like to receive the exact guidance I require for the specific moment.
No, I don’t know if these techniques will work.
So let’s apply them with the enthusiasm of desire
and use the flexibility of curiosity
to notice what results they give us in both the short term and long term.
Look!
Look at our lives.
Look at all the sufferings we have endured,
despite our hope and efforts to the contrary.
Look!
Look at all the decisions we made,
that despite seeming or feeling sound,
brought us even MORE suffering.
Our logic and intuition did NOT give us the results we desired.
Our beliefs failed to shelter us from suffering.
Have you grown weary of this pattern?
Then try something new.
You’d be hard pressed to find someone more fearful and neurotic
then I used to be.
But applying the techniques of Dialoging with Kuan Yin
with a flexible desire
absolutely catapulted my journey forward upon the path to enlightenment.
There is only one way to see if they’ll work for you as well.
The test of these teachings,
is not whether they satisfy your reason or feelings.
Remember where logic and intuition have already taken you.
According to Buddha, the ONLY valid test of these teachings
is the results they give you when they are properly applied.
#1 Do your twice daily homework to strengthen
your karmic connection to Avalokiteshvara.
#2 Receive and practice the precise techniques of dialoging.
#3 Cultivate your Bodhisattva’s longing to accomplish both
the conventional and ultimate welfare of all beings.
Our lives are NOT about the avoidance of personal pain,
BUT about universal enlightenment.
• Treasure this mindset,
• apply the teachings,
• surf the results.
The Thursday series of weekly webinars starts THIS week!
May you and yours be
happy and healthy!
Om Mani Padme Hum,
.
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