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February 17 - February 25, 2022
if you don’t have irritation, anger, fear, or despair, you’re still running with this or that project, or this or that line of thinking, and you’re not at peace.
Stopping and looking deeply are one; they’re two aspects of the same reality.
Sitting meditation is not for fighting. You let go of everything. When a thought comes, you say hello, and then you say good-bye right away. When other thoughts come, just say hello and say good-bye again.
what most of us do when we get upset; we stay out in the storm of our feelings, and they overwhelm us.
Meditation has two aspects: stopping and calming is the first, and looking deeply to transform is the second.
look deeply into any emotion and discover the true nature of that emotion. If you can do that, you will be able to transform the emotion.
As long as you continue to hold onto it, your pain magnifies and grows so large that you want to punish those you think are the cause of your suffering.
Sometimes someone we love—our child, our spouse, or our parent—says or does something cruel, and we feel hurt. We think it is only we who suffer. But the other person is suffering as well. If he weren’t suffering, he wouldn’t have spoken or acted in a way that hurt us.
In our family, in our society, on our planet, every day we create more people with knives in their hearts. And because they hold knives in their hearts, their suffering and rage overwhelm their families, their society, the world.
Deep listening and loving speech are very powerful practices.
it’s possible to be aware that even if the weather is very foggy, cloudy, or stormy, the blue sky is always there for us above the clouds.
Community building is the most important action of our century. As individuals, we have suffered tremendously. Due to the predominance of individualism, families are breaking down, and society has become deeply divided.
A mantra is a kind of magic formula that, once uttered, can entirely change a situation. It can change us, and it can change others. But this magic formula must be spoken in concentration, with body and mind focused as one. What you say in this state of being becomes a mantra. I share these four mantras as supports for the practice of coming back to really be there for ourselves and our loved ones, releasing fear, cultivating true love, and restoring communication.
“Dear one, I am here for you.”
When you love someone, the best thing you can offer that person is your presence.
“Darling, I know you are there, and I am so happy.”
You embrace your beloved with mindfulness, and he or she will bloom like a flower.
These first two mantras can bring happiness right away, even if your beloved is not there in your physical presence.
“Darling, I know you’re suffering. That’s why I am here for you.”
“Dear one, I am suffering; please help.”
We know we are part of the sangha river, we are not isolated drops of water, and we will make it to the ocean together.
With the support of the sangha, the practice is easier, and life in general becomes much easier. Your family or your group of friends can be your sangha. It is whatever community supports you.
bodhisattvas, wise and compassionate beings who stay on Earth to alleviate the suffering of others.
The bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara, also called Quan Yin, has a great capacity for listening with compassion and true presence. Quan Yin is the bodhisattva who can listen and understand the sounds of the world, the cries of suffering.
You have to practice in such a way that every time the energy of irritation and anger comes up, you can breathe in and out mindfully and continue to hold compassion within you.
Walk with your feet, not with your head. Bring your attention to your feet and walk. Walk in such a way that joy and real life are possible right here and now.
We have our physical body, but if we have a spiritual practice, we also have another body, our Dharma body.
Radiating peace and joy and life all around is what we call the living Dharma.
Descartes said, “I think, therefore I am”; but most of the time, the truth is more like “I think, therefore I am not really here.”
The first exercise is, “Breathing in, I know this is an in-breath. Breathing out, I know this is an out-breath.”
The second exercise is, “Breathing in, I follow my in-breath all the way from the beginning to the end. Breathing out, I follow my out-breath all the way from the beginning to the end.”
The third exercise is, “Breathing in, I’m aware of my whole body. Breathing out, I’m aware of my whole body.”
fourth exercise: “Breathing in, I am aware of some tension and pain in my body; breathing out, I calm and release the tension and pain in my body.”
releasing tension, allowing the tension to flow out of the body.
The fifth exercise consists of bringing forth a pleasant feeling, a feeling of joy.
The fifth and the sixth exercises are for bringing forth joy and happiness. The seventh exercise is for taking care of pain and suffering.
Buddhist teachings draw a slight distinction between joy and happiness.
In the joy there’s still a little bit of excitement. Happiness is a more peaceful feeling, like contentment.
The seventh exercise is to recognize a painful or unpleasant feeling: “Breathing in, I know that a painful feeling is there. Breathing out, I calm that painful feeling.”
With the energy of mindfulness and concentration, we just recognize and embrace the painful feeling. “Hello, my fear. Hello, my anger. Hello, my sadness. I know you are there. I’m going to take good care of you.”
When that positive energy embraces the painful energy, there will be an effect.
Anything can serve as the object of our meditation. Our intention is to touch the nature of impermanence in it.
The notions of birth and death can be a source of fear, anguish, and anxiety. Seeing the no-birth, no-death nature of reality, we free ourselves of anxiety and fear.
“Breathing in, I observe letting go. Breathing out, I observe letting go.”
Our true nature is no-beginning, no-end; no-birth, no-death.
May I be peaceful, happy, and light in body and spirit. May I be safe and free from injury. May I be free from fear, anxiety, anger, and afflictions.
Feelings flow in us like a river, and each feeling is a drop of water in that river. Look into the river of your feelings and see how each feeling came to be. See what has been preventing you from being happy, and do your best to transform those things.
Love meditation helps you learn to look with clarity and serenity so as to improve the way you perceive.
True Love Aware of the suffering caused by sexual misconduct, I am committed to cultivating responsibility and learning ways to protect the safety and integrity of individuals, couples, families, and society. Knowing that sexual desire is not love and that sexual activity motivated by craving always harms myself as well as others, I am determined not to engage in sexual relations without true love and a deep, long-term commitment established in the presence of family and friends.
I am committed to cultivating good health, both physical and mental, for myself, my family, and my society by practicing mindful eating, drinking, and consuming.
