Tag: Buddhism

Categories
Philosophy Poetry

Karma v. Equanimity

How can one help but try and remember
Even ask curiously
Who is this and how do I know them from a past life
As I indirectly feed them or compete for
attention or laughter or share an earnest
word on institutional experience
I cannot help but question
How do I know you?
Did we eat at the same table?
Drink from the same cup?
Have I sensually stroked your arm?
Did you birth me from your womb?
Push me on the swing?
So many lives lived unremembered
Remarkable though they seemed
At the time

Gone. Gone from my grasp.
Yet feelings of familiarty arise
At each and every word exchanged
The touches given, stopped
So weird that you could linger
Like an unfounded memory
Yet I know within my heart
That appearance reflects karma
Though unfolded memory remains
Tucked away for enlightened eyes only
A privilege reserved for tenth dimension beings
And here we are struggling in 3D appearance
I don’t hear you in my dreams
No we weren’t that close so recently
But previous lives are infinite
Circular I like to believe
So we’ve had…how many?

Now you stand before me
Like you’ve never known me
But you bear the name I’ve heard before
Under steepled roof, through Christian door
I strive for patience, not to deplore
A despicable name I don’t care for
You aren’t the same though it would appear that way
And de ja vu is pretty peculiar
So the dream I know is a dream getting weirder
As if it’s possible it could be stranger
But that is one thing you’re definitely not
As you avoid my gaze it’s clear
You’ll never shoot your shot and
I think about the shit lot it sometimes
seems I got – gave myself? – a dream with
Suspicious people in my midst
Horrid roommates taking the piss
Out of my very livelihood – what a ride
My karma has given me, so I turn
To the cause, asking
“What has given rise to thee?
What led this John Doe here to me?
What action have a I done or refused
That left this jackoff rather bruised?”

Better perhaps to question
How do I right the wrongs
That led to these damned impressions?
How do I purify the karma in the way
Of the mind that holds steadfastly
Virtuous equanimity, a warm feeling
And friendly attitude to each living being?
That is peace and happiness to me.

Categories
Buddhism Monday Motivation Poetry

What ho!

I am utterly transformed
I can never again see with false eyes
I have abandoned many fears

Never again can I commit tyranny
unable to slay a foe without mercy
still a warrior, dedicated practiced

Once, my armor gleamed in the sun
now, it is bloodstained, tarnished with use
a hero’s pay is his next adventure

As I sit atop the lower falls, and
waking dream what now I see
remembering how this came to be

Observe not one, but many parts
not one singularity exists,
trunks turn out branches bearing leaves
which nestle insects or yield to mites
though some call it chaos mistakenly

I now see the forest for the trees
fragmented phenomena, often
incorrectly imputed as one object

How can it exist but in name?
Dependent relationships
making us dependent people,
striving for independence from
everyone but our own false self

Not anymore

Now when I feel autumn stretch her
roots into August mornings, shrinking daylight
when I feel her come in on the breeze
I know the tears that fall are but
impressions of the misdeeds long past done
just re-emerging memories unsettled in
summer’s dry heat, like dust

Now, clarity.

Lower Falls
Categories
Poetry

Curious Delusion

Am I curious again?

Let me stay in the stage of discovering

Don’t let it end

Happiest I am dancing through the maze

Don’t let it end

I’m content being lost as long as I’m left here

Don’t let it end

In Samsara’s pleasure garden, no one wishes for

the end of the line

I’m satisfied to discover new suffering

Don’t let it end

Categories
Poetry

The Only Constant

Different times of day yield
different colours,

Different satisfactions of experience,
clocked shadows, dancing
patches of sun

Yet your embrace
erased such time
coloured everything bright

And our discoveries seemed to
pass us by in a now faded flash

Though the memories
cling like stickseed

Only a dull heat lingers in my womb
creator of gross images,
art and stories, sometimes still of us

All while my subtle winds
carry mournful breaths, poisoned
with attachment

All while my very subtle mind
offers peaceful release, renunciation
accepted, finally

I let you go

Categories
Firescape Fridays Philosophy

Acceptance | FF 12

What does not come naturally must be taught.

What must be taught must be practised.

That which comes naturally must also be practised.

That is one goal.

Patient practise.

Categories
Buddhism Meditation Monday Motivation

Attitude of Gratitude | MM 5

Many people recommend beginning your day with gratitude. They encourage journaling, each morning, a list of ten or more things for which you’re thankful. You can also sit with a mind of gratitude, imagining the list of things you’re grateful for.

I think this is a wonderful practice, and I find no argument with its benefits, which a quick internet search confirms include better attitude throughout the day (better emotional regulation), improved resilience, and overall increased happiness.

So why is this, and what can we do to add more meaning to this small effective practice?

If we understand karma (cause & effect), we understand that positive feelings come from practicing virtue and that negative feelings come from practicing non virtue. How can generating minds of thankfulness create happiness? What makes gratitude virtuous?

In order to maximize the positive effects of this practice, we should cultivate this attitude with wisdom. Instead of being mindlessly thankful for things like a sunny day or having a roof over our heads and offering this thanks aimlessly toward the universe at large, we can actually add power to our practice by offering our appreciation and our love to the kindness of living beings who continuously help us enjoy the things we attribute our happiness to.

The building you dwell in didn’t simply appear over night. It started as an idea in someone’s mind. It became a blueprint. Materials were sourced: wood from trees, mined metals melded in factories, synthetic materials invented and recreated. Kind humans putting in mental and physical energy to flesh out a building that began as a mere thought.

You may have heard a variation of the concept “It takes the whole world to make one object.” It takes machines built in one place to harvest crops in another. When we break apart an object we typically enjoy mindlessly, we have the potential to see literally limitless dependent relationships. This thing relies on this which relies on that, which ultimately all relies on the kindness of living beings.

If we cultivate an attitude that appreciates living beings for their kindness and cooperation, we are creating specific and positive causes to feel much deeper and lasting positive feelings than the temporary and misplaced joy of thanking the sun for shining, wrongfully believing the sun is the source of today’s happiness.

Mindfulness Challenge 1:

Choose three objects that you use every day in your home. Three objects that you feel grateful for or happy when you use them. Three objects you may rely upon.

Think about how you came to obtain them. Did you purchase them at the store? Did someone have to stock the shelves with them? Did someone give it to you as a gift? Meditate on the warm feeling of gratitude and love toward the people who helped you attain this item that you benefit from daily.

Now think about how that object was created. What materials is it made of? How were they harvested or created? How is the object put together? How many beings were involved in the assembly of such an object?

Finally, think about how this object was conceived? Did someone invent it? Did it begin as a mere thought or conception in someone’s mind? What plans would need to be prepared before such an object was actually physically created?

Once more, try generating a warm feeling that actually cherishes the people, the kindness of those people, for helping make it possible for you to enjoy this phenomenon each day.

Results

I hope that by journaling or meditating the above mindfulness exercise, you can move your practice of cultivating gratitude from something that generates a temporary happy feeling to something that brings more meaning in your life.

By understanding how connected we actually are, and how it is the kindness of living beings that creates the world we experience, we bring much more fulfillment and ultimate meaning to our practice. We direct our gratitude toward our neighbours, our coworkers, the employees at our local grocery stores. We can grow our patience, our compassion, and we can reduce our resentment and blame.

None of us would be alive today without the kindness of others. For that, we can be extremely grateful. No matter the hardships we’ve endured, we have benefitted from the kindness of others. How wonderful!

If you need more inspiration…

Categories
Buddhism Meditation Monday Motivation

Meditation & Mindfulness | MM 3

Listen to Gen-la Kelsang Khyenrab teach about developing a happy mind.

“We need to improve the quality of our mind if we want to be truly happy.”

Gen-la Kelsang Khyenrab

Motivation Challenge 1:

Identify three problems in your day. See if you can respond to each problem with a positive mind. How can you control your desire for things going a certain way and accept the situation as it is?

At the end of the day, reflect (i.e. journal) on what you learned from each problem. If you were able to help someone else, rejoice!

In doing mindful activities like this, we can accomplish two things:

  1. Accumulate positive karma through helping others, patiently accepting what is, and transforming adverse conditions
  2. Train our mind to become strong, peaceful and happy

Meditation: Challenge 1:

Spend one to two minutes meditating on how you helped others in your day. If no examples come to you, you can always imagine doing things to help others. Try to generate a warm feeling of love or compassion or gratitude toward the people you’ve helped. (Keep pets or animals in mind too – just as important as people!)

Spend two to three minutes meditating on this warm feeling at your heart. This is your object of meditation. Try and hold it for as long as possible. If your mind wanders, just bring it back to your object as soon as you notice. Do so without any judgment.

If this is your first time meditating, try repeating the following to yourself a few times before you start:

“I can meditate. I have the ability to hold my concentration. I will learn to develop concentration, because it is important. I can and I will focus on my object of meditation.”

This is more helpful than negative self talk like “I’m no good at meditating. Meditation isn’t for me. I’ll never be able to concentrate. I can’t control my mind.” These thoughts cause nothing but harm, so there is no purpose in encouraging them.

If you’re worried about getting “stuck” in meditation, simply set a timer for five to ten minutes, or whatever you can spare.

For a real challenge, try this for one whole week. Keep a journal and pay attention to how your mind is throughout the day. Do you feel as stressed? How is your patience? How are you sleeping?

I’m sending lots of love and positive energy your way. Good luck!

Categories
Poetry

Life of Virtue

I yearn for the values of my grandmother
not catholic, not starched and sterilized by religion
not rusty morals nor ignorant rules

I yearn for the values of my grandmother
curled around me with love and kindness
virtuous actions bringing peace to minds

I strive to create a pure moral discipline
in my self, as I saw in my grandmother
something rare in the face of today’s anger
hatred, attachment, confusion

I yearn for the wealth of my grandmother
an uncontaminated purity, patience
her undeniable courage and unconditional love

Categories
Affirmations Love Letters

Love Letter to Oneself

To my changing self,

I am a spectacular person. I love myself inside and out. I love myself unconditionally. I love all my excellent qualities, good qualities and poor qualities. I love that I have poor qualities because my suffering gives me the opportunity to empathize with others, develop compassion, and wish to become a better person. I love my good qualities because they feel natural, I can strengthen them and improve their power. I love my excellent qualities because they allow me to serve living beings, shine a positive light in the darkness, and be an example, or leader, to others.

In all ways I strive to be virtuous: kind, compassionate, free from misery, wise, patient and understanding. Now, there is not a day that goes by where I do not do something wonderful for my higher self and for others. Once there was a time I lived in the dark. My only friends were loneliness and despair; I believed good was not possible, all was lost. I had not the will nor wisdom to make intentional efforts to consciously design and build my future. I did not understand cause and effect, karma. I have suffered at the hands of my self-cherishing mind (ego/pain-body). I have made bad choices.

Still, with faith I have lost all despair. Even when things are difficult, even when I lose control, even when I am hanging by a thread, there arises a resilient mind of faith that I can and will keep going, and I can and will be better.

This letter is to affirm that in the process of becoming better, I love myself as I am. For keeping this desire in my heart and never giving up means that I have already achieved my wishes and dreams, even as I work to achieve them. There is nothing I cannot do.

Love, my wisdom self

Feel free to adapt this letter for your self, for your own expression of love to the beautiful soul inside, the soul struggling to get through the shit. It deserves your unconditional love. It deserves your support, your compassion and your striving for permanent happiness and liberation from suffering.