Buddhist discussion
Daily Dharma
Two Perfect Homes | April 25, 2014Outside of me, there is a perfect home for everything inside of me. And inside of me, there is a perfect home for everything outside of me. Just let it go, and let it in. In and out, like the breath. After all, outside has nowhere to go but in, and inside has nowhere to go but out.
—Shozan Jack Haubner, “Consider the Seed”
Balancing Act | April 28, 2014We’ve all got some balancing act going. Maybe we juggle clarity and criticism; or it could be devotion and credulity, warmth and vagueness, energy and rivalry, precision and a need to control. We may struggle to cultivate one and suppress the other, but sometimes all it takes is a willingness to let go of our patterns as soon as we recognize them, and to stay open to whatever comes next.
—Pamela Gayle White, “Walking the Walk”
Live in Joy | April 29, 2014When we are not attached to who we think we are, life can move through us, playing us like an instrument. Understanding how everything is in continual transformation, we release our futile attempts to control circumstances. When we live in this easy connection with life, we live in joy.
—James Baraz, “Lighten Up!”
One Sees Deathlessness | April 30, 2014Nothing exists except in relation to another thing. In the relation, and not in the things, or illusory definiteness of things, one sees deathlessness.
—Leonard Michaels, “The Wheel”
Bonus Wednesday DharmaSHIFT YOUR ALLEGIANCE
At some point, we need to stop identifying with our weaknesses and shift our allegiance to our basic goodness. It’s highly beneficial to understand that our limitations are not absolute and monolithic, but relative and removable. The wisdom of buddha nature is available to us at any time.
-No Time to Lose: A Timely Guide to the Way of the Bodhisattva by Pema Chödrön, page 334
Entering the Lotus | May 1, 2014Truly entering the gate—truly connecting to the Buddha's teaching—is to directly experience that there is no inside and outside. This is not just an idea: you can't understand it from the outside. Having entered, though, don't think you are inside and others are still outside. Everyone enters with you.
—Michael Wenger, “Entering the Lotus”
Turn on the Light | May 2, 2014Simply by turning on the light, you can instantly destroy the darkness. Likewise, even a rather simple analysis of ego-clinging and afflictive emotions can make them collapse. By suppression we may temporarily subdue our afflictive emotions, but only an investigation of their true nature will completely eradicate them.
—Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, “An Investigation of the Mind”
The Pleasure of Foolishness | May 5, 2014Being the fool is not the same as acting the fool: you can’t decide to be playful, or foolish, for an hour a day, as if it were yet another task to add to your campaign of self-improvement. It’s rather the result of a relaxation of the rules and goals that you normally run your life by. The pleasure of foolishness lies in large part in the absence of self-consciousness; in the self-forgetting that comes in a moment of abandon.
—Roger Housden, “A Fool’s Bargain”
Overcome Resistance | May 6, 2014Dancing is a beautiful metaphor for the richness of meditation. More than an exercise to focus the mind, it is a transformational journey inward, a means to know ourselves and refine our way of being. Like removing kinks from a hose, it propels us to overcome our resistances so the best in us can flow.
—Lawrence Levy, “Let’s Dance”
Transcend Ordinary Perceptions | May 7, 2014In painting, as in any art, we can escape the prison of our minds and connect with what transcends ordinary perceptions. And just as a body of water stays still while a wave-form moves through it, consciousness remains stable despite the constant motion and flow of our thoughts.
—Fredericka Foster, “Spotlight On: Fredericka Foster”
bonus Wednesday Dharma:BRING LIGHTNESS
It’s easy to become deadly serious about freeing ourselves from suffering. People need help now, and we have to get ourselves in shape fast! But in the so-called war against the kleshas (difficult emotions), heavy-handedness is just another ego trip. Instead of struggling, Shantideva suggests bringing some lightness into the equation. Like children at play, like a hot elephant diving into a lake, like a joyful horse, or a breeze of delight—bring enthusiasm to the task.
-No Time to Lose: A Timely Guide to the Way of the Bodhisattva by Pema Chödrön, page 262
The Seed of Aspiration | May 8, 2014Experience is the seed of aspiration, the deeply rooted commitment to know. That aspiration then drives one into the difficult and transformative realm of spiritual pursuit, into the realm of practice.
—Adam Frank, “In the Light of Truth”
Intolerance Towards Suffering | May 9, 2014The subtle suffering in our lives may seem unimportant. But if we attend to the small ways that we suffer, we create a context of greater ease, peace, and responsibility, which can make it easier to deal with the bigger difficulties when they arise. Being intolerant of suffering, in the Buddhist sense, does not mean that we reject it or fight against it. It means that we stop and look at it, not morbidly, but with faith in the possibility of living a joyful and peaceful life.
—Gil Fronsdal, “Living Two Traditions”
Learning to Control Our Emotions | May 12, 2014If we want to succeed in life and bring about a more peaceful world, we must learn to control our emotions and not to be affected by a moment of anger.
—Master Hsing Yun, "Don't Get Mad, Don't Get Even"
Meditation in Perspective | May 13, 2014It's one thing to view meditation as a serious religious discipline that can help overcome craving and attachment. This approach is perfectly consistent with many Buddhist teachings. But that is quite different from viewing meditation as the be-all and end-all of Buddhism, and it is also different from seeing meditation in utilitarian terms—as a means to bring about an experience, such as kensho [experience of an enlightened state] or sotapatti ["stream entry"], that will instantly transform the whole of one's existence.
—Robert Sharf, “Losing Our Religion”
Lacking Nothing | May 14, 2014You lack nothing of the wisdom and perfection of the Buddha, right at this moment. Hearing, breathing, you don’t differ even one drop from hearing, breathing Buddha. Not even a hair’s breadth. And yet we can be far away.
—Elihu Genmyo Smith, "No Need to Do Zazen, Therefore Must Do Zazen."
Bonus Wednesday DharmaWANDERING IN THE WORLD OF DESIRE
Wandering in the world of desire involves looking for alternatives, seeking something to comfort us—food, drink, people. The word desire encompasses that addiction quality, the way we grab for something because we want to find a way to make things okay. That quality comes from never having grown up. We still want to go home and be able to open the refrigerator and find it full of our favorite goodies; when the going gets tough, we want to yell “Mom!” But what we’re doing as we progress along the path is leaving home and becoming homeless. Not wandering in the world of desire is about relating directly with how things are. Loneliness is not a problem. Loneliness is nothing to be solved. The same is true for any other experience we might have.
-When Things Fall Apart: Heart Advice for Difficult Times by Pema Chödrön, page 58
The Magic of Reflecting | May 15, 2014Through the magic of reflecting on the teachings, their force—sometimes clear, sometimes obscure—will cause ferment in our minds from which we can gradually distill the wisdom of reflection. This requires discipline, but also bravery—the bravery to dig deep down to uncover our confusion.
—Lama Jampa Thaye, "How Do We Learn the Dharma?"
The Right Mind | May 16, 2014If the mind congeals in one place and remains with one thing, it is like frozen water and is unable to be used freely: ice that can wash neither hands nor feet. When the mind is melted and is used like water, extending throughout the body, it can be sent wherever one wants to send it. This is the Right Mind.
—Takuan Soho, “The Right Mind and the Confused Mind”
You Are Your Own Best Proof | May 19, 2014In the end, when it comes to spiritual practice, you are your own best proof. Individual practitioners can understand from their own personal experience that practice is helping them to be more understanding, to be more open, to be more at home with others, or to have a greater sense of ease.
—Thupten Jingpa Langri, “Under One Umbrella”
No Essence | May 20, 2014The wealth of the world is mist on the mountain pass.
My closest friends, but guests on market day.
Uncertain joys and sorrows are last night’s dream.
I think and think; they have no essence.
—Gendun Chopel, "In Memory of My Childhood Friend"
Fetters of Fear | May 21, 2014Fear is the basic anxiety that creates separation and fixation. Fear keeps us bound to the past, to our cozy, habitual way of doing things.
—Daniel Naistadt, “The Money Mind”
Wednesday Bonus Dharma:HUMANIZING STRANGERS
Suppose we spent some time every day bringing the unknown people that we see into focus, and actually taking an interest in them? We could look at their faces, notice their clothes, look at their hands. There are so many chances to do this, particularly if we live in a large town or in a city. There are panhandlers that we rush by because their predicament makes us uncomfortable, there are the multitudes of people we pass on streets and sit next to on buses and in waiting rooms. The relationship becomes more intimate when someone packs up our groceries or takes our blood pressure or comes to our house to fix a leaking pipe. Then there are the people who sit next to us on airplanes. Suppose you had been on one of the planes that went down on September 11. Your fellow passengers would have been very important people in your life.
It can become a daily practice to humanize the people that we pass on the street.
-Taking the Leap: Freeing Ourselves from Old Habits and Fears by Pema Chödrön, page 79
The Path of Reasoning | May 22, 2014Gold merchants do not merely accept the seller’s praise of his goods; rather, they use a variety of methods to examine the quality of the merchandise before they make their purchase decision. Similarly, the Buddha said, do not accept my teachings out of faith in me, but rather out of your own confidence in my words—confidence that you have reached as a result of your own intelligent analysis.
—Khenpo Tsültrim Gyamtso, “Dissecting Devotion”
Long Journey to a Bow | May 23, 2014Learning to make that first bow to ourselves is perhaps a step to realizing that a bow is just a bow, a simple gesture where all ideas of 'self' and 'other,' 'worthy' and 'unworthy,' fall away. It is a step of confidently committing ourselves to realizing the same freedom and compassion that all buddhas throughout time have discovered; it is acknowledging that we practice to be liberated.
—Christina Feldman, "Long Journey to a Bow"
Extinguish the Craving | May 26, 2014Try looking into how feeling gives rise to craving. It's because we want pleasant feelings that craving whispers—whispers right there to the feeling. If you observe carefully, you will see that this is very important. This is where the paths and fruitions leading to nibbana are attained. If we extinguish the craving in feeling, that's nibbana.
—Upasika Kee Nanayon, “A Glob of Tar”
Peace Will Arise | May 27, 2014Being a slave to our concerns is like being in debt to them. When we're in debt, we have no real freedom in our hearts. The more we pay off our debts, the more lighthearted we'll feel. In the same way, if we can let go of our various worries and cares, peace will arise in our hearts.
—Ajaan Lee, “Sowing the Seeds of Freedom”
Cow Meditation | May 28, 2014Far beyond 'self and
udder.' With nothing to
attain and nothing more
to prove at last one sits
peacefully serene. Sitting
quietly, the grass grows.
—Edward Espe Brown, "The Vision Cow"
Bonus Wednesday DharmaA LITTLE TWIST
All of life is interconnected. If something lives, it has life force, the quality of which is energy, a sense of spiritedness. Without that, we can’t lift our arms or open our mouths or open and shut our eyes. If you have ever been with someone who is dying, you know that at one moment, even though it might be quite weak, there’s life force there, and then the next moment there is none. It’s said that when we die, the four elements—earth, air, fire, water—dissolve one by one, each into the other, and finally just dissolve into space. But while we’re living, we share the energy that makes everything, from a blade of grass to an elephant, grow and live and then inevitably wear out and die. This energy, this life force, creates the whole world. It’s very curious that because we as human beings have consciousness, we are also subject to a little twist where we resist life’s energies.
-The Wisdom of No Escape and the Path of Loving-Kindness by Pema Chödrön, pages 38–39
The Buddhist Story | May 29, 2014We all walk out of the palace of youthful innocence at some point, and we actually see what’s going on. That’s the Buddhist story.
—Lewis Richmond, “Aging as a Spiritual Practice”
Philosophy and Religion | May 30, 2014Separating philosophy from religion does not work well in the case of Buddhism. Trying to tease apart these two strands of the dispensation would have seemed a futile endeavor to most Buddhists over the long history of the tradition. We in the West need to get over this false dichotomy, which has no significance in speaking about Buddhism or other Asian religions.
—Robert E. Buswell Jr. and Donald S. Lopez Jr., “Buddhism: Philosophy or Religion”
The Art of Begging | June 2, 2014Although we hold the bowl open for an offering, the practice of takuhatsu [begging] does not teach us to be dependent upon society, asking for something that is not earned, or pressuring a community for an entitlement to food or goods. Rather, it teaches us the fundamental lessons of the Buddha: to be dependent on everyone, to live our original homelessness, to include the homeless in thought and deed, to share everything, to accept what comes to us, to be generous, to be humble in society.
—Eido Frances Carney, “Zen and the Art of Begging”
The Intention Behind Honesty | June 3, 2014Just as being truly compassionate doesn’t mean always being sweet and nice (sometimes it means being cold, harsh), being truly honest doesn’t mean speaking your thoughts and feelings as they arise. Other awarenesses and intention must be at work—and a recognition that the truth is not solid.
—Susan Piver Browne, "Right Speech"
Shelter from the Storm | June 4, 2014When we take the vows of refuge, we are also pledging to find the refuge that exists within our own lives. This taking of refuge is not some kind of evasion or escape, but is the planting of our 'selves' deeply in the nature of what surrounds us.
—Gary Thorp, "Shelter from the Storm"
Bonus Wednesday Dharma:THE COURAGE TO WAIT
When you’re like a keg of dynamite just about to go off, patience means just slowing down at that point—just pausing—instead of immediately acting on your usual, habitual response. You refrain from acting, you stop talking to yourself, and then you connect with the soft spot. But at the same time you are completely and totally honest with yourself about what you are feeling. You’re not suppressing anything; patience has nothing to do with suppression. In fact, it has everything to do with a gentle, honest relationship with yourself. If you wait and don’t fuel the rage with your thoughts, you can be very honest about the fact that you long for revenge; nevertheless you keep interrupting the torturous story line and stay with the underlying vulnerability. That frustration, that uneasiness and vulnerability, is nothing solid. And yet it is painful to experience. Still, just wait and be patient with your anguish and with the discomfort of it. This means relaxing with that restless, hot energy—knowing that it’s the only way to find peace for ourselves or the world.
-Practicing Peace in Times of War by Pema Chödrön, pages 41–42
Now is the Time | June 5, 2014Now is the time to free ourselves from samsara. Unless we do it in this lifetime, it is not going to happen all by itself. We have to take care of ourselves. Right now we have the ability to receive teachings and practice the Dharma. Isn’t this the right time? Wouldn’t that be better than continuing to act like an animal, concentrating only on eating and sleeping and letting the time run out?
—Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche, "Taking Your Future into Your Own Hands"
Birth and Death | June 6, 2014Just understand that birth-and-death is itself nirvana. There is nothing such as birth and death to be avoided; there is nothing such as nirvana to be sought. Only when you realize this are you free from birth and death.
—Eihei Dogen, "Birth and Death"
Love and Compassion | June 9, 2014The two feelings of love and compassion are intimately linked. Without love, compassion cannot arise, and compassion always involves having love. Without love one would not have compassion for others’ pain; instead you would probably have pity, if not total indifference. It is because of love that the suffering of other beings becomes so unbearable that a bodhisattva would endure any pain to help them.
—Karma Trinlay Rinpoche, “What We’ve Been All Along”
End This Suffering, Too | June 16, 2014Buddhism is, of course, a tradition that strives to end suffering, but concern with the suffering that is caused by gender stereotypes, constrictive narratives, and discriminatory customs is relatively new, at least in its public discourse. How women’s lives have been marginalized from the Buddhist narrative is still being discovered, acknowledged, and remedied.
—Mary Fowles, “Roused from a Dream”
Why Meditate on Skeletons? | June 17, 2014In urging his followers to meditate on skeletons and bloody remains, the Buddha was advocating consciousness, not disdain for the body. When we are aware of all the intricate processes and parts that make up our bodies, we are less likely to identify the overall image as 'me.' Disdain for our bodies is, in fact, born not of detachment but of identification.
—Hannah Tennant-Moore, "Not Our Bodies, Not Ourselves"
Not by Yourself | June 18, 2014The authentic practice of sitting still in the depths of silence and coming to understand Buddha’s teachings is not accomplished by yourself. The true significance of Buddha’s radical instruction 'Just sit' cannot be realized except in the context of the vow to save all living beings.
—Reb Anderson, "In It Together"
Wednesday Bonus Dharma:NOT BITING THE HOOK
In Tibetan there is a word that points to the root cause of aggression, the root cause also of craving. It points to a familiar experience that is at the root of all conflict, all cruelty, oppression, and greed. This word is shenpa. The usual translation is “attachment,” but this doesn’t adequately express the full meaning. I think of shenpa as “getting hooked.” Another definition, used by Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche, is the “charge”—the charge behind our thoughts and words and actions, the charge behind “like” and “don’t like.” Here’s an everyday example: Someone criticizes you. She criticizes your work or your appearance or your child. In moments like that, what is it you feel? It has a familiar taste, a familiar smell. Once you begin to notice it, you feel like this experience has been happening forever. That sticky feeling is shenpa. And it comes along with a very seductive urge to do something. Somebody says a harsh word and immediately you can feel a shift. There’s a tightening that rapidly spirals into mentally blaming this person, or wanting revenge or blaming yourself. Then you speak or act. The charge behind the tightening, behind the urge, behind the story line or action is shenpa.
You can actually feel shenpa happening. It’s a sensation that you can easily recognize. Even a spot on your new sweater can take you there. Someone looks at us in a certain way, or we hear a certain song, or walk into a certain room and boom. We’re hooked. It’s a quality of experience that’s not easy to describe but that everyone knows well.
Now, if you catch shenpa early enough, it’s very workable. You can acknowledge that it’s happening and abide with the experience of being triggered, the experience of urge, the experience of wanting to move. It’s like experiencing the yearning to scratch an itch, and generally we find it irresistible. Nevertheless, we can practice patience with that fidgety feeling and hold our seat.
-Practicing Peace in Times of War by Pema Chödrön, pages 55–57
Four Truths | June 19, 2014We ordinary persons are foolish because we don’t know the truth. Specifically, we don’t know that existence itself is suffering, that suffering has an origin, that suffering can be brought to an end, and that there is a path to that state of cessation. We may know it intellectually, we might know it well enough to list it correctly on the midterm, but this does not make us noble. Only the person who has direct insight into the four truths is noble. And it is only for such people that the four truths are, in fact, true.
—Robert E. Buswell Jr. and Donald S. Lopez Jr., "Four Ennobling Truths"
The Luminous Gap | June 20, 2014At the moment, because of ignorance of our real nature, we experience everything as the confused manifestations of samsara. The sense of self creates a feeling of solidity, like the apparent solidity of the clouds veiling the face of the sun, but at certain moments a gap is opened up, through which we may receive a glimpse of the light of reality.
—Francesca Freemantle, "The Luminous Gap in Bardo"
Keep It Simple | June 23, 2014Underneath all the drama, the restlessness, the hopes and fears, behind the narratives we weave about ourselves, and even before we’ve thought of ourselves as ourselves, lies a simple, unadorned awareness. It’s not even a thing—just an event that happens, a little burst of knowing, deep in the center of it all.
—Andrew Olendzki, “Keep It Simple”
Make the Most of It | June 24, 2014If you think of the number of people in the world, what percentage of them really devote any substantial amount of time to spiritual practice? What percentage of them are even inclined to do so? And the fact that we are willing and interested in this kind of an approach to life is very rare. And so we are encouraged to make the most of it.
—Ken McLeod, "37 Practices of the Bodhisattva, Verse 1"
Ethics from the Heart | June 25, 2014For the Zen Buddhist, an ethical precept is a question to be held up to the light of circumstance, an inquiry rather than an answer. And the nature of this inquiry is not so much the dubious enterprise of trying to figure out the right thing to do as it is an offering of an unaided heart. After all, it’s from this heart of ours that the precepts themselves once arose. At the threshold of choice, the Zen Buddhist trusts this ancient heart above all other authority.
—Lin Jensen, "An Ear to the Ground"
Bonus Wednesday DharmaHEAVEN AND HELL
There’s another story that you may have read that has to do with what we call heaven and hell, life and death, good and bad. It’s a story about how those things don’t really exist except as a creation of our own minds. It goes like this: A big burly samurai comes to the wise man and says, “Tell me the nature of heaven and hell.” And the roshi looks him in the face and says: “Why should I tell a scruffy, disgusting, miserable slob like you?” The samurai starts to get purple in the face, his hair starts to stand up, but the roshi won’t stop, he keeps saying, “A miserable worm like you, do you think I should tell you anything?” Consumed by rage, the samurai draws his sword, and he’s just about to cut off the head of the roshi. Then the roshi says, “That’s hell.” The samurai, who is in fact a sensitive person, instantly gets it, that he just created his own hell; he was deep in hell. It was black and hot, filled with hatred, self-protection, anger, and resentment, so much so that he was going to kill this man. Tears fill his eyes and he starts to cry and he puts his palms together and the roshi says, “That’s heaven.”
~Awakening Loving-Kindness by Pema Chödrön, pages 65–66
Back to the Fundamentals | June 26, 2014People are looking for liberation from their fears, worries, and anxieties; that is, for freedom from the bonds of birth, old age, sickness, and death. Even in our times—where mankind has developed this amazing modern civilization with scientific wonders—people still continue to lead their lives trying to figure out solutions to these fundamental matters.
—Harada Sekkei Roshi, "Zen Basics"
Books mentioned in this topic
In Paradise (other topics)The Places That Scare You: A Guide to Fearlessness in Difficult Times (other topics)
You practice the piano not in order to perform but for the sake of practicing the piano. With music, you don’t practice and then one day become a concert pianist. You are that. Practice is as much an expression of that as of practice itself.
—Philip Glass, “First Lesson, Best Lesson”