Summer Festival

I’m headed out to the UK Summer Festival at Manjushri KMC today. With the opportunity to receive Dorje Shugden, Heruka and Vajrayogini empowerments together with exquisite teachings from Geshe Kelsang, it promises to be a good and meaningful experience. I’m looking forward to catching up with old friends and making some new friends while soaking up lots of blessings. To all of you who are also making your way there, I wish you safe travels, and hope you have a fantastic time.

Look out for the little ones

Last weekend I spent a few hours removing some very tenacious ivy from our garden. It had to go because, while it might make a lovely ground cover, it easily takes over and can be destructive to trees and whatever else it might happen to latch onto. Also, the family who lived here previously allowed it to spread into the neighboring property, and it’s creating a bit of a mess there. There are places where the vines are so ancient that they have grown to be as thick as tree branches, and we had to use a saw and hatchet to cut them out.

In the process of ripping thousands of vines out of the ground I discovered a whole city of insects and other tiny creatures that were taking refuge underneath. Of course, this is no surprise. Still, as I watched pill bugs and centipedes scurrying about looking for new places to hide I couldn't help but contemplate their situation. From my side, I was engaged in a perfectly normal human activity with no real intention to harm, but to them I must have seemed like Godzilla, stomping around and ravaging their homes. I tried my best to avoid killing or injuring them, but I can understand why Shantideva recommends that we avoid digging in dirt.

Go in peace, Peter J

My grandfather died yesterday at 89 years old. He spent the last ten weeks of his life in the ICU with all manner of tubes and devices strapped to him. He had pneumonia twice, his lungs kept filling with blood and other fluids, and his kidneys stopped functioning. After a number of bronchial scopes to clear his lungs, and dialysis treatments to cleanse his blood, it was his heart that finally stopped while the doctors were changing a PIC line.

I know that it is customary to say pleasant things in remembrance of the deceased. It is true that my grandfather was very accomplished, and many people found him easy to adore. However, my karma has been such that it is difficult for me to see him as much more than a scoundrel who has done unspeakable things to his family, things that eventually formed the basis for the development of extremely deep divisions between his children and by extension also his grandchildren. Because of this I didn’t have very much contact with him after age 13 or so, and sadly, what I remember most of my relationship with him at that time is the sense of relief that I felt when I understood that he would no longer be a part of my life.

Now, as an adult looking at my life through the lens of Dharma I have gradually come to realize my part in creating these divisions. I understand that I had sown the seeds for it eons ago, and although I can’t change the present I now wish to make repairs for the future.

In the last three years I saw my grandfather four times, and each time I felt my compassion for him grow and my aversion diminish. During our last visit in the ICU I approached him, my heart filled with regret for the divisiveness of my previous lives and a wish to do something truly meaningful for him, while silently pleading for blessings and help from my Guru. He couldn’t speak to me because of a ventilator tube that was in his windpipe, so I simply held his hand, touched his head, and told him that I love him. Now that he has passed I will make special prayers and do whatever I can to ensure that this poor villain of my life is reborn in a most blissful pure land. My grandfather deserves no less.

Sweet Reminders

Dharma can be found everywhere, even inside of a piece of chocolate. After lunch each day I visit a coworker's candy jar and have a piece of chocolate. Today it was a Dove Promise. Those who know their sweets know that these particular chocolates have a message printed on the inside of each wrapper, and my message said, “Life is precious and an opportunity to make every moment count.”

Quite true! This life is precious for me because I have the chance to practice virtue, and since life so short, I definitely need to remember not to waste it, but to make every moment count. I smiled as I read it, more thankful for the reminder than for the sweet flavor.

Of course, these Dharma lessons don’t exist from their own side, and it’s good to discriminate. After my treat, desirous attachment got the best of me and went for another. The message inside this one said, “Be mischievous. It feels good.” What’s the lesson in this message? Samsara’s pleasures are deceptive.

Everyone can teach Kadam Dharma

For the last five years or so, one of the great joys in my life has been teaching weekly General Program classes. I am not a Geshe, but twice a week I have the opportunity to share Kadam Dharma with anyone who wants it.

I remember the day that I approached my Resident Teacher and told him that I wanted someday to teach. At the time I was thinking that "someday" meant after a few years of study and meditation, but within about a month he found a class for me. I was surprised when he asked me if I would be happy to take over for another teacher who was helping to start a new Foundation Program class, but I accepted.

I am very happy that I began teaching Dharma when I did because the blessings and experience have helped me to learn more that I would have through study and meditation alone. Having students who depend on me to bring them real solutions to their problems each week motivates me to think more deeply about the Dharma than I would otherwise, and their questions and thoughts reveal new perspectives that I would not have discovered on my own.

However, it was quite a challenge in the beginning. I was a little nervous before each class, and very nervous if there were new people. I had a lot of deluded pride and I didn't want to make any mistakes. Occasionally, I wondered what my Resident Teacher saw in me that made him think that I was qualified.

Later, I heard a story about someone who asked Geshe Kelsang a similar question: Who is qualified to teach? Geshe-la responded by saying that everyone can teach Kadam Dharma. He drew an analogy, saying that if we see a beggar on the street, we don't have to be a millionaire to help them. Instead we reach into our pocket, find whatever little money we have, and give it to them. In the same way, we don't need to know a lot of Dharma to teach, we can just give whatever little bit we can, and people appreciate it because it helps them.

I don't need to be an authority on Dharma to teach. After all, it's not really my teaching anyway, it's Buddha's. No one is actually learning anything from me. Instead we are all learning from Geshe-la together.

Twenty-one meditations

Every pure spiritual tradition has its own unique good qualities. What makes Kadampa Buddhism unique is the special presentation of Buddha's teachings known as Lamrim. In the introduction to Modern Kadampa Buddhism it says:

Kadampa Buddhism is a special tradition of Mahayana Buddhism founded by Atisha (982-1054 CE), an Indian Buddhist Master largely responsible for the reintroduction of Buddhism into Tibet in the eleventh century. ‘Ka’ refers to all Buddha’s Sutra and Tantra teachings, and ‘dam’ refers to Atisha’s special instructions called the ‘Stages of the Path’, or Lamrim in Tibetan. Kadampa Buddhists integrate their knowledge of all Buddha’s teachings into their everyday lives. The Kadampa Geshes, the followers of Atisha, were not only great scholars but also spiritual practitioners of immense purity and sincerity.

A Kadampa is anyone who strives to put the essential meaning of Lamrim into practice both in meditation and daily activities. We are always encouraged not just to learn Kadam Lamrim, but also to live it.

Atisha said that there are three kinds of living being, those who seek happiness within samsara, those who seek the happiness of liberation from samsara, and those who seek the happiness of full enlightenment. Everyone fits into one of these categories. In an amazing act of compassion, Atisha organized all of Buddha’s 84,000 teachings into a very clear presentation of just 21 meditations that help all three types of living beings to accomplish their wishes. The meditations as they appear in the New Meditation Handbook are:

1. Our Precious Human Life
2. Death and Impermanence
3. The Danger of Lower Rebirth
4. Refuge Practice
5. Actions and their Effects
6. Developing Renunciation for Samsara
7. Developing Equanimity
8. Recognizing that all Living Beings are our Mothers
9. Remembering the Kindness of Living Beings
10. Equalizing Self and Others
11. The Disadvantages of Self-cherishing
12. The Advantages of Cherishing Others
13. Exchanging Self with Others
14. Great Compassion
15. Taking
16. Wishing Love
17. Giving
18. Bodhichitta
19. Tranquil Abiding
20. Superior Seeing
21. Relying Upon a Spiritual Guide

Read more...

Reflections on the source of happiness

One of Buddha’s most basic teachings is that the source of happiness is within our own minds. I say it is basic not because it’s obvious, but because, having heard this news, the truth of it is easy to understand and appreciate. All I have to do is look around and I see evidence of it everywhere.

Normally, I rely on things outside of my mind, such as good friends, good food, and music to make my life happy. It’s true that I can enjoy all of these things, but only if my mind is peaceful. There have been plenty of times when anger has flared up and made people and things that I love look ugly. On the other hand, even if I can’t seem to make things work out the way I’d like, as long as I manage to keep my mind calm and peaceful it’s easy to remain happy. This is proof to me that happiness comes from within the mind, and not from external sources. If it were not true, then patience could never help me to remain happy during a difficult time, and anger could never prevent me from enjoying the people and things that I like.

Although easy to understand, this simple teaching is the exact opposite of what I normally believe, and so it’s extremely important to me. Had Geshe Kelsang not given me the gift of this advice through his oral teachings and writing, I would never have discovered it on my own. Now I am gradually reversing mistaken assumptions about my life and experiences that lead to problems. Mistakenly believing that happiness comes from external sources eventually leads to disappointment, and then I blame others for not meeting my expectations, or for doing and saying things that I don’t like. Without taking this advice to heart I am like a bull in a china shop, and I think it is the dishes’ fault for shattering. However, through remembering the truth, that happiness comes from nowhere other than within my own mind, I am confident that can learn to continually enjoy my life regardless of what is happening, and help others do the same.