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February 21 - March 1, 2020
I’m sort of a mess and also okay.
“Live your life as an experiment.”
the right answer is the one that is your own.
Let’s take a moment just to be with what is going on now. Let’s leave all of that behind and just be in this room.”
The purpose of meditation practice is to blur the lines between meditation and postmeditation practice, so that we live all of our waking hours being present to whatever the world presents to us.
Within the Buddhist tradition we are saying the opposite: actually you are basically good. You are basically wise. You are basically kind. You just need to discover that truth and develop confidence in it.
“Basic goodness is not confined to any one tradition. It is the essence of everyone and everything.”
If you find yourself struggling, just remember to take it easy on yourself, drop judgment, and motivate yourself to your meditation seat.
So I recommend having a consistent time that you meditate and making that a priority.
These changes are so subtle it is hard to think of meditation as anything other than a gradual path of transformation.
“If you keep a clear mind moment-to-moment, then you will get happiness everywhere.”3 Happiness, in this context, is just appreciating the world as it is without labeling it as good or bad. The view of basic goodness is that this moment is already sacred and wonderful as long as we can tune in to its innate beauty. If we can have faith that we possess basic goodness and everyone we encounter does as well, then any moment has the potential to be a sacred one.
“It was not Siddhartha’s aim to be happy. His path does not ultimately lead to happiness. Instead it is a direct route to freedom from suffering, freedom from delusion and confusion. Thus nirvana is neither happiness nor unhappiness—it goes beyond all such dualistic concepts. Nirvana is peace.”
One of the many Tibetan words for meditation is samadhi. Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche once said, “According to the Buddha’s philosophy, there is no verb ‘to meditate.’ There is just a noun, ‘meditation.’ There’s no meditating. You don’t meditate, but you be in a state of meditation. . . . ‘Meditation’ is a noun that denotes that you are being in a state of meditation already.”
This is the nature of life: the more fixed expectations we carry, the more we are likely to be let down.
you can have ambition, and ideas for the future, but they must be rooted in the reality of now.
When you are in tune with the reality of now, it is easy to tell what you ought to do next. The future will come. We know that much. Because everything changes moment by moment, we don’t have to worry that the future will not run up to meet us. It is coming.
Meditation gives us the ability to see what needs to happen, and then we can act. It is not a robotic state where we can process only what is right in front of us. It gives us a panoramic view of the reality of our situation so that we know how best to direct our energy and take care of ourselves and others long-term. That is the best kind of planning for the future: being open to what is truly going on right now and acting accordingly.
Your mind is your mind is your mind.
Right now is already perfect.
“The practice of meditation is not so much about the hypothetical attainment of enlightenment. It is about leading a good life.”
Maybe to begin with, we should all just start by being kind people. Maybe we should try to live a good and decent life. Enlightenment may very well follow.
