Tibetan Buddhism

Idle Chatter

"Whereas some priests and contemplatives, living off food given in faith, are addicted to talking about lowly topics such as these — talking about kings, robbers, ministers of state; armies, alarms, and battles; food and drink; clothing, furniture, garlands, and scents; relatives; vehicles; villages, towns, cities, the countryside; women and heroes; the gossip of the street and the well; tales of the dead; tales of diversity [philosophical discussions of the past and future], the creation of the world and of the sea, and talk of whether things exist or not — he abstains from talking about lowly topics such as these. This, too, is part of his virtue.

"Whereas some priests and contemplatives, living off food given in faith, are addicted to debates such as these — 'You understand this doctrine and discipline? I'm the one who understands this doctrine and discipline. How could you understand this doctrine and discipline? You're practicing wrongly. I'm practicing rightly. I'm being consistent. You're not. What should be said first you said last. What should be said last you said first. What you took so long to think out has been refuted. Your doctrine has been overthrown. You're defeated. Go and try to salvage your doctrine; extricate yourself if you can!' — he abstains from debates such as these. This, too, is part of his virtue."

- Buddha
Samaññaphala Sutta

This is advice for monastics. Details of right speech were given in this post

Toddler Altruism

Warneken and Tomasello study

Freedom to be Happy

"What we frequently think about and ponder upon becomes the inclination of the mind." - The Buddha

Courage

Entering the arena tense and with clenched teeth is not a display of true courage.

Courage reveals itself when the heart is allowed to soften and open to what is there.

Fear is not a foe to defeat, but a child to take care of with boundless love.

Warrior

The common person perceives every situation as a blessing or a curse;
blessing leading to attachment, curse leading to aversion.

The spiritual warrior perceives every situation as a challenge-
a challenge to be present and to open the heart.

The Guest House

This being human is a guest house.
Every morning a new arrival.

A joy, a depression, a meanness,
some momentary awareness comes
as an unexpected visitor.

Welcome and entertain them all!
Even if they are a crowd of sorrows,
who violently sweep your house
empty of its furniture,
still, treat each guest honorably.
He may be clearing you out
for some new delight.

The dark thought, the shame, the malice.
meet them at the door laughing and invite them in.

Be grateful for whatever comes.
because each has been sent
as a guide from beyond.

- Rumi
Coleman Barks translation

Metta Wishes

May you relax into a loving presence.

Free from fear and worry, may you be peaceful.

May you be happy.

:)

Letting Go

The practice of 'letting go' is very effective for minds obsessed by compulsive thinking: you simplify your meditation practice down to just two words – 'letting go' – rather than try to develop this practice and then develop that; and achieve this and go into that, and understand this, and read the Suttas, and study the Abhidhamma... and then learn Pali and Sanskrit... then the Madhyamika and the Prajña Paramita... get ordinations in the Hinayana, Mahayana, Vajrayana... write books and become a world renowned authority on Buddhism. Instead of becoming the world's expert on Buddhism and being invited to great International Buddhist Conferences, just 'let go, let go, let go'.

I did nothing but this for about two years – every time I tried to understand or figure things out, I'd say 'let go, let go' until the desire would fade out. So I'm making it very simple for you, to save you from getting caught in incredible amounts of suffering. There's nothing more sorrowful than having to attend International Buddhist Conferences! Some of you might have the desire to become the Buddha of the age, Maitreya, radiating love throughout the world – but instead, I suggest just being an earthworm, letting go of the desire to radiate love throughout the world. Just be an earthworm who knows only two words – 'let go, let go, let go'. You see, ours is the Lesser Vehicle, the Hinayana, so we only have these simple, poverty-stricken practices!

Ajahn Sumedo - Letting Go - chapter from Cittaviveka – Teachings From The Silent Mind

Reconnaitre les nuages

fichier PDF

The Second Arrow

Bringing awareness to our emotions helps us to have straightforward or uncomplicated emotions. No emotion is inappropriate within the field of our mindfulness practice. We are trying to allow them to exist as they arise, without reactivity, without the additional complications of judgment, evaluation, preferences, aversion, desires, clinging or resistance.

The Buddha once asked a student, “If a person is struck by an arrow is it painful?” The student replied, “It is.” The Buddha then asked, “If the person is struck by a second arrow, is that even more painful?” The student replied again, “It is.” The Buddha then explained, “In life, we cannot always control the first arrow. However, the second arrow is our reaction to the first. This second arrow is optional.”

As long as we are alive we can expect painful experiences – the first arrow. To condemn, judge, criticize, hate, or deny the first arrow is like being struck by a second arrow. Many times the first arrow is out of our control but the arrow of reactivity is not.

Often the significant suffering associated with an emotion is not the emotion itself but the way we relate to it. Do we feel it to be unacceptable? Justified? Do we hate it? Feel pride in it? Are we ashamed of it? Do we tense around it? Are we afraid of how we are feeling?

Mindfulness itself does not condemn our reactions. Rather it is honestly aware of what happens to us and how we react to it. The more cognizant and familiar we are with our reactivity the more easily we can feel, for example, uncomplicated grief or straightforward joy, not mixed up with guilt, anger, remorse, embarrassment, judgment or other reactions. Freedom in Buddhism is not freedom from emotions; it is freedom from complicating them.

From the IMC website

Wait Without Hope

I said to my soul be still, and wait without hope; for hope would be hope of the wrong thing.

-T.S. Eliot

Usually when we wait, we charge the experience with hope or dread. We are living in the future. If instead, we could not shape the waiting with any expectation, but simply be open to what arises, we are not struggling with the way things are in the present. There is nothing to fix. What arises includes feeling the emotions of hope and fear. This time however, they are also witnessed by awareness. "Oh! here's hope, welcome, oh, and this too! welcome!".

Dropping expectations, waiting becomes simply being.

Being Peace

Happiness is not an individual matter. When you are able to bring relief, or bring back the smile to one person, not only that person profits, but you also profit. The deepest happiness you can have comes from that capacity to help relieve the suffering of others. So if we have the habit of being peace, then there is a natural tendency for us to go in the direction of service. Nothing compels us, except the joy of sharing peace, the joy of sharing freedom from afflictions, freedom from worries, freedom from craving, which are the true foundations for happiness.

-Thich Nhat Hanh

Being nothing, you are everything

You live in illusion and the appearance of things. There is a reality, but you do not know this.
When you understand this, you will see that you are nothing.
And being nothing, you are everything. That is all.

- Kalu Rinpoche

Emptiness

Form is emptiness and emptiness is form.

Clouds appear, change and dissolve in the sky. Behind the gray clouds, the sky is there, ever present. Without the sky, there cannot be clouds.

Our thoughts and emotions are the clouds in the sky which is our awareness.

Picture frames of a movie are projected on a screen. Likewise, thoughts, emotions, sensations and moods are projected on the screen of awareness. Even when all we experience is the drama of our lives, the thoughts appear, change and dissolve in the awareness. Without awareness, there cannot be thoughts.

Forms appear out of emptiness. Clouds in the emptiness of the sky, thoughts in the emptiness of awareness.

By realizing the presence of awareness and the impermanence of all it witnesses, one can start to tame the mind, learning to detach from the drama and rest in the awareness itself. Memories, plans, thoughts and emotions stop solidifying into "who we are" but become clouds witnessed by our awareness. This way, we stop being egocentric and separate.

Patience and perseverance

From there, one can start to change the contents of the mind and nurture positive states. One practices cultivating lovingkindness and compassion.

Like any skill, practicing positive mind states takes patience and perseverance. Lovingkindness and compassion bring inner and outer peace.

Inspired by Tenzin Palmo's dharma talk about emptiness

Meditation

An old Chinese Zen Master once said, "Some of you are taking me literally when I say, 'Don't think,' and you are making your minds like a rock. This is a cause of insentiency and an obstruction to the Way. When I say not to think, I mean that if you have a thought, think nothing of it."

Right Speech

The criteria for deciding what is worth saying

[1] "In the case of words that the Tathagata knows to be unfactual, untrue, unbeneficial (or: not connected with the goal), unendearing & disagreeable to others, he does not say them.

[2] "In the case of words that the Tathagata knows to be factual, true, unbeneficial, unendearing & disagreeable to others, he does not say them.

[3] "In the case of words that the Tathagata knows to be factual, true, beneficial, but unendearing & disagreeable to others, he has a sense of the proper time for saying them.

[4] "In the case of words that the Tathagata knows to be unfactual, untrue, unbeneficial, but endearing & agreeable to others, he does not say them.

[5] "In the case of words that the Tathagata knows to be factual, true, unbeneficial, but endearing & agreeable to others, he does not say them.

[6] "In the case of words that the Tathagata knows to be factual, true, beneficial, and endearing & agreeable to others, he has a sense of the proper time for saying them. Why is that? Because the Tathagata has sympathy for living beings."

— MN 58

The Fisherman

An American businessman was standing at the pier of a small coastal Mexican village when a small boat with just one fisherman docked. Inside the small boat were several large yellowfin tuna. The American complimented the Mexican on the quality of his fish.

“How long it took you to catch them?” The American asked.

“Only a little while.” The Mexican replied.

“Why don’t you stay out longer and catch more fish?” The American then asked.

“I have enough to support my family’s immediate needs.” The Mexican said.

“But,” The American then asked, “What do you do with the rest of your time?”

The Mexican fisherman said, “I sleep late, fish a little, play with my children, take a siesta with my wife, Maria, stroll into the village each evening where I sip wine and play guitar with my amigos, I have a full and busy life, señor.”

The American scoffed, “I am a Harvard MBA and could help you. You should spend more time fishing and with the proceeds you buy a bigger boat, and with the proceeds from the bigger boat you could buy several boats, eventually you would have a fleet of fishing boats.”

“Instead of selling your catch to a middleman you would sell directly to the consumers, eventually opening your own can factory. You would control the product, processing and distribution. You would need to leave this small coastal fishing village and move to Mexico City, then LA and eventually NYC where you will run your expanding enterprise.”

The Mexican fisherman asked, “But señor, how long will this all take?”

To which the American replied, “15-20 years.”

“But what then, señor?”

The American laughed and said, “That’s the best part. When the time is right you would announce an IPO and sell your company stock to the public and become very rich, you would make millions.”

“Millions, señor? Then what?”

The American said slowly, “Then you would retire. Move to a small coastal fishing village where you would sleep late, fish a little, play with your kids, take a siesta with your wife, stroll to the village in the evenings where you could sip wine and play your guitar with your amigos…”

ID Please!

Taxonomy - the orderly classification of plants and animals.

Yesterday, I attended a conference given by a pastor/botanist. When asked "what could be done for the general public - and especially the youth - to be more responsible about protecting biodiversity?" he replied the following :

"I would tell them to associate taxonomy and observation of nature. People must learn to identify and recognize what is out there. Identifying plants, birds. If a name cannot be given to an object, no relationship can establish itself between the observer and the observed. To identify a plant makes a big difference. If a person walks past a stranger, he will not respond the same way as if he walks past a person that has been introduced and whose name is known. There is an emotional response that stems from recognizing the person."

Identification and naming can have a powerful effect. It might be the royal road to a stronger sense of connection with nature. Memory and the intellect could be the first step to being more fully cognizant, i.e. emotionally and spiritually.

Life - Lessons from Biodiversity

Diversity and an "intelligent, organized" chaos encourage life.
A rich ecosystem is full of symbiotic relationships between species. There is self-regulation and coevolution.

Uniformity, squareness weaken and destroy life.
A poor ecosystem promotes parasitic relationships between species. The system is out of balance and self-destroys in an attempt to steady itself.


Diversity and an "intelligent, organized" chaos in diet encourage health.
Diversity and an "intelligent, organized" chaos in physical activity encourage health.
Diversity and an "intelligent, organized" chaos in the one's activities and interests encourage mental health.

Uniformity in diet, physical, interests, daily activities destroy health and life.

Similarly, diversity and an "intelligent, organized" chaos in communities, societies, nations encourage harmony. There is self-regulation and "coevolution".

Uniformity, too much regulation, too much systematic organization, weaken and destroy communities, societies, nations, the environment. There are parasitic relationships. There is gradual destruction - including the environment's - in an attempt by Gaia to steady itself.