Awakening The Buddha Within - Lama Surya Das

last SG · 2006-03-15T18:44:48+00:00

Hi Paperflower, thanks for sharing with us much valuable and wonderful teachings

paperflower SG

we are visitors on this planet. we are here for ninety, a hundred years at the very most. during that period we must try to do something good, something useful with our lives. try to be at peace with yourself and help others share that peace. if you contribute to other people's happiness, you will find true goal, the true meaning of life.

- His Holiness The Dalai Lama

paperflower SG

it is no easy task to move from an ego-centered selfish point of view toward one of openness, love and compassion. to live a life of open-handed and open-hearted love, forgiveness, patience and acceptance requires a great deal of inner work.

Bodhicitta, "awakened mind", is the luminous heart of the Dharma. wisdom and compassion - truth and love - are absolutely indispensable, mutually supportive and totally inseparable.

if it looks like wisdom, but is unkind rather than loving, it's not wisdom.
if it feels like love, but it's not wise, it's not love.

like the two wings that together enable a bird to fly, love and wisdom are interdependent.

these complementary facets of the heart-jewel of Bodhicitta - clear, precise, sharp sword-like wisdom and warm, nurturing, open-hearted compassion - facilitate swift transformation on the great highway of awakening.

paperflower SG

don't wallow in self-pity.....

do you become so intensely involved with the ups and downs of your life that you sometimes feel as though your thoughts are glued to your own problems and that you are like a human yo-yo?

if so, it's extremely difficult to feel love and compassion for others. but give self-preoccupation a little tug and see if you can detach from your personal ups and downs..... like taking off a Band-Aid, it only hurts for a short time. then it feels so much better.

let some fresh air in. it could be healing......

paperflower SG

always maintain a joyful mind.....

why not be cheerful? why be miserable? why not pretend to be happy instead? in fact, why not pretend to be happy, free and complete instead of pretending the contrary is true?

anyone who has ever attended a peace demonstration knows the song "give peace a chance". why not give joy a chance?

the ability to maintain inner joy and a larger perspective in the face of adversity is a sign that mind-training is taking effect and transforming our lives......

the entire tantric teaching is one of appreciating the rich tapestry and beauty of things just as they are. the good and the bad. the shadow and the light. it is dancing with life, not just trying to control it or figure it out.

paperflower SG

don't transfer the bull's load to the cow....

Harry Truman said, "the buck stops here." people appreciated his strength in being able to shoulder his burdens. this slogan is a reminder to all of us not to blame others or shirk responsibility.

we are all carrying burdens - emotional, financial, spiritual and physical; and we all carry psychological issues that come from individual family dynamics.

the spirit of Bodhicitta suggests that we not transfer our problems to others; they have their own stress and they may well be weaker. clean up your own rooms; pick up your own belongings.

don't think of yourself as a helpless victim, don't let the tail(emotions) wag the dog(the entire being).....

paperflower SG

Advanced Alchemy: Transforming Pain Into Love

"may all the suffering of all beings come upon me, and may they have all my joy and happiness....."

Tonglen - literally known as Sending-and-Taking - is an integral part of the Mahayana mind-training. this powerful and advanced practice is not a parlor trick; it's not something you should do for kicks or to prove anything.

when you replace self-concern with a concern for others, you soften your character and refine your spirituality.

Tonglen - the taking on of burdens without feeling burdened - is a lesson in letting go of self-clinging and attachment and transforming egotism into love.

it is a way of transforming the recalcitrant hardened heart into a heart softened by love and empathy. don't be afraid of it; rather, regard it initially as an advanced mind-training technique to be used as a way of increasing one's capacity for unconditional love, generosity and openness of heart.

when you are ready to undertake such selfless practice, it awaits you.

paperflower SG

Tonglen Meditation: Exchanging Oneself for Others

- an attitude of extraordinary compassion and love for all.

start by accepting your own being

extend your love and acceptance to others

exchange happiness and love for suffering and pain

ride upon the moving breath

meditate on the interwoven sending and receiving and begin the receiving with yourself
(one of Atisha's slogans from the 'seven points of Mind-training')

A Healing Attitude
tonglen meditation - helps train us to be genuinely present with difficult situations and to bring more enlightened principles into daily life, without excessive reactivity. it loosens up and dissolves the dualism between light and dark, good and bad, positive and negative, wanted and unwanted circumstances. we take in the bad and give away all that is desirable. we do this as an excercise in generosity, transcendence and nonattachment.

as you explore your inner resources, you will discover that you have an abundance, more positive resources than you can possibly imagine. reach into the infinite spiritual richness of your innately compassionate and wise Buddha-nature.

paperflower SG

Meditation Training - awareness, attention and focus

what the Buddha actually intended by this part of the path was mental discipline, an effort to train the mind through cultivation of mindful awareness and attention to the present moment.
not mistaking, seeing meditation in the most narrow sense of going into a quiet room, crossing your legs and closing your eyes.

if all the difficulties of life are the result of ignorance, deluded thinking and conflicting emotions, then the obvious solution is to get wiser, more aware, balanced and loving.

we do this through the practice of meditation training or samadhi, which is the ancient word for mental discipline or contemplation.

meditation training includes: right effort, right mindfulness and right concentration

paperflower SG

awareness is the common denominator of all sentient beings. meditation is the most direct and effective way to cultivate that innate awareness.

we meditate in order to purify and discipline our minds.

we meditate in order to understand and directly perceive reality or truth as "clear seeing" or "seeing things as they are".

we meditate in order to wake up to what is, thus arrive at the total immediacy and authenticity of life in this very present moment.

we meditate in order to become enlightened - cultivating that innate awareness - an essential ingredient on the path to awakening the Buddha within.

that's the goal and it is also the practice. cultivating present moment-by-moment awareness helps you come home to who you are and always have been.

paperflower SG

meditation basically means the intentional cultivation of mindful awareness and pure attention - an alert, wakeful presence of mind. this development of awareness eradicates ignorance - about ourselves and others as well as reality.

meditation awakens and frees the mind and opens the heart, helping us develop inner wisdom, clarity, joy and compassion, thus bringing spirituality and a larger perspective into every aspect of daily life. meditation training helps us to concentrate as well as to see and think more clearly.

meditation is not just something to do; it is a method of being and seeing - an unconditional way of living moment by moment.

we perceive and know things as they actually are. this directly connects and brings us to truth according to its simplest definition - things just as they are......

paperflower SG

the Dharma teaches that everything, good and bad, originates within our minds - minds that have been conditioned by years (and lifetimes) of deluded and delusional thinking.

every second of everyday, the mind and senses are being flooded by external stimuli - sounds, smells, sights. so much is going on - so much extraneous information is going in and out of the mind that it seems impossible to "see straight" - to see with clarity.

thought and intellect are good servants - great tools but poor masters.

we so often fall prey to the tyranny of thought and are controlled by our own motor minds and surrounded by the static and empty echoes of our own motor mouths.

it's good to take stock and renew our heart's soulful search for happiness and fulfillment, to begin afresh our journey and exploration toward finding what really matters in life and staying with it.

what really matters - to us? how to make a life, not just a living. how to find ourselves - our true selves - not just our persona or image.......

if we want to simplify and deepen our lives, we must simplify and deepen our minds.

paperflower SG

in the Dhammapada, the Buddha said,

"the mind is restless, unsteady, hard to guard, hard to control. the wise one makes it straight, like a fletcher straightens an arrow. the mind is mercurial, hard to restrain, alighting where it wishes. it is good to tame and master this mind, for a disciplined mind brings happiness."

An Eternal Now SG

Thanks for sharing so much teachings for us.

Gong1 De2 Wu2 Liang4!

paperflower SG

it's nothing much i achieved. just sharing (what i'm learning) as much as i could for as long as anyone is still hearing listening, wanting to learn.....

Smile

paperflower SG

concentration meditation

a yogic practice that existed before the Buddha's birth, concentration meditation can help the practitioner reach the highest mystic states. although the Buddha attained states of inconceivable bliss, he did not believe this type of meditation alone would guarantee enlightenment.

right concentration is based on relaxation and centering excercises, in which we learn to collect ourselves, focus our energy and attention and quiet the heart-mind.

it has also been shown to be extremely helpful for stress reduction, tension management and other health-related problems.

paperflower SG

insight meditation

developed and taught by the Buddha, this type of meditation is often called Vipassana.

it is how the practitioner develops deeper wisdom and insight into the nature of reality.

insight meditation cultivates mindfulness and awareness...... bringing about spiritual realisation while uprooting negative karmic conditioning and kleshas. thus, bringing purity and peace of heart along with freedom of mind.

insight meditation has been called the heart of Buddhist meditation.

paperflower SG

in the non-dual teachings of Mahamudra and Dzogchen, the higher Vipassana or higher vision of panoramic awareness - is ideally unifying the sharply honed edge of concentration with insight meditation in a larger more panoramic way.

this combination of concentration and penetrating insight is the method the Buddha was practicing when he realised ultimate truth and attained perfect liberation beneath the bodhi tree at dawn in the wilderness of northern India.

these 2 types of meditation show up in the different practicing schools and traditions.

Tibetan Buddhist meditation practice includes resting the mind as well as investigating or analyzing.

the common principle of understanding the distinction between concentration and insight underlies all various schools' practices and styles of meditation.

paperflower SG

meditation requires so little. all you have to do is stop doing whatever else you are doing and just be there.

you must be present to win. just show up!

once you are accustomed to meditating, you can do it while standing, walking, lying down or.... even arranging flowers. the Buddha once said that there are four positions for meditating: standing, sitting, walking and lying down. in other words, all the time.

paperflower SG

meditation is a matter of focusing and calming the mind and later develops much more into panoramic awareness.

begin by breathing in through the nose, concentrating on the feeling sensation of air coming in through the nostrils; then breathing out through the nostrils - again while concentrating on the feeling sensation of air going out of the nostrils.

simply observe breathing and focus on nothing else....

whatever happens - people moving, mosquitos buzzing, radio blarring......, focus on nothing else.

if you have a physical sensation - cramped foot, an itch on your shoulder, just try to let it go and focus on the breathing.

if you have a thought, a memory, a yearning, use your breath to give your mind a gentle tug back...... and continue to focus on your breathing.

it sounds so simple but as we try to do this, we begin to notice how unruly our minds are and how difficult it is to focus on only one thing. however, with effort, mindfulness and concentration, meditation will work for even the most unruly mind.

paperflower SG

what are the contents of meditation? you, your life and your world.

you don't have to go to Tibet or Nepal to find something to meditate on.

as the Zen master Dogen once wrote:

to study the Buddha's way is to study the self;
to study the self is to transcend the self.
to transcend the self is to be enlightened by all things.
to be enlightened by all things is to remove the barrier between self and others.

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