The Holiness
Visualizing Before Touching the Earth
You can't be by yourself. You have to inter-be with everything else.
So before touching the Earth before the Buddha, you have to visualize that you are empty of a separate self, and also that the Buddha is empty of a self. The one who bows and the one who is bowed to are both by nature empty.
Before you bow, you say something like this: "Dear Buddha, I am bowing to you, but I know deeply that I am empty and you are also empty, because you are in me and I am in you. When I am touching the Earth before you, it may look ridiculous. But looking deeply, I see that I bow like this in order to touch you in me, and so that you can touch me in you also.
Suppose you build a hall made of mirrors, and then you enter holding a candle. Looking into a mirror you see you and the candle, and when you turn around you see that each mirror reflects you and the candle in the mirror too. You just need to look into one mirror to see all the reflections of you and the candle. Countless yous and countless candles are reflected in just one mirror.
Become the Buddha, Dharma and the Sangha
Today's entry comes from the Summer 2004 Mindfulness Bell: A Journal of the Art of Mindful Living. This is an excerpt from Thich Nhat Hanh's Dharma talk titled, "Take Refudge in Your In-Breath" addressing the retreat Sangha. It is a commentary on the teachings of Master Linji.
Linji, is Buddhist monk from ninth-century China. The TNH lineage descends from Master Linji.
In the records of Master Linji it says, "The practioners of our time do not succeed because they do not have faith in themselves. They are always looking outside." They think that they can get compassion and wisdom from the Buddha, from the Dharma, from the Sangha outside of themselves. They don't know that they are the Buddha, they are the Dharma, and they are the Sangha. They should allow themselves to become the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Sangha. They should allow the Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha to become themselves. This is the teaching of Master Linji.
People like to say, take refuge in the Buddha, take refuge in the Dharma, take refuge in the Sangha. But, I like to say, take refuge in your in-breath, take refuge in your out-breath, take refuge in your steps. The Buddha may be an abstract idea, but your in-breath is a reality, your steps are a reality. You are looking for the Buddha, you are looking for the Dharma. You are not truly taking refuge in them because you have not found them. But you don't have to look for your in-breath; it is right there in front of your nose. You don't have to look for your steps; they are right there in your feet. That is why taking refuge in your in-breath, taking refuge in your steps is very concrete. When you are doing that the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Sangha become concrete also. You don't have to run after the Buddha; the Buddha will run to you. You don't have to look for the Dharma; the Dharma will come to you.
-Peace to you All-
The Intentions of Karma
Often we get too caught up in trying to figure out our karma. This can be like "chasing the wind" as the Native Americans say and draw us up into the realms of the "hungry ghosts" rather then the realm of peace and tranquility.
I found a book online about the basics tenets and ethics of Buddhism that I found interesting. Especially the brief introduction to karma. Isn't it intriguing that the seemingly simplest books are the one's that often teach us the most?
It is titled, "Buddhist Ethics: A Very Short Introduction" by Damien Keown.
Here is the section right out of the book I found most enlightening:
Karmic actions are moral actions, and the Buddha defined karma by reference to moral choices and the acts consequent upon them. He stated, "It is intention (cetana), O monks, that I call karma; having willed one's actions through body, speech, or mind."
This makes more sense to me then the ignorant western view of karma being that of good and bad, black and white actions. Karma (to me) is more of a concept of shades of grey and varying degrees.
Let's say you have to lie to keep someone alive. Would that be good, negative or even neutral karma (thus no real effect)?? It seems to me that it would be neutral at the very least but maybe even good. Here again it is the intention behind your actions that seems to be most important. Would not the good intention of wanting to save a life be more important then the intention to mislead?
What do you think?
Buddhism and Sitting with Depression
As some of you may know I have been diagnosed for awhile now with schizoaffective disorder. It is a brain disorder which combines symptoms of schizophrenia with symptoms of bipolar disorder. Often I can go from feeling on top of the world to the darkest, coldest hole of depression. I take 6 different medications that help a great deal but often I still have episodes despite them.
Well, yesterday was one of those days of being in that scary hole of depression and so I have been doing some research into how Buddhism helps us deal with depression. Here's some of what I have found.
The prevailing way to deal with depression in Buddhism seems to be meditating on compassion and and loving-kindness towards our depression. It is very easy for me to have compassion and loving-kindness toward others but often I forget to have compassion and love toward myself. This is probably one of the reasons that my physiological depression becomes worse with a lack of self-love and compassion.
So this morning I sat with my depression and just showed it love and compassion. I talked to it and told it that I understood it was warning me to "stop and listen." I told it that I loved it and thanked it for being so concerned about me and my life but that it could now go. I understood the lesson it was trying to teach me. I no longer needed it to fertilize the seeds of happiness that would soon grown and blossom out of the depression.
This worked very well as I could literally feel the heavy sorrow leave my shoulders and slowly drift and lift away like a dense fog. This is does not always work but it does indeed help us relax for a time and be at peace. Now, I do not for one minute want to convey that I am an expert on mood disorders or that meditation alone will "cure" depression. However, it is a powerful tool to add to our arsenal in dealing with such emotions.
I think some depression is very much brought upon ourselves for being somewhat selfish and egocentric. That is hard for me to swallow sometimes but I feel it to often to be true. Although most of my depression seems to come from my chemical imbalance I know that I make it worse by feeling selfish pitty for myself. As if somehow I am the only one who struggles with depression or that no one could really understand how much pain I was suffering. The truth is, however, that we have all been there at one time or another. Maybe not in the extremes of a chemical imbalance but enough to relate to it. In moments like these I often remind myself that others have it much worse then I do and I am then able to turn the depression into compassion for others who are suffering worse.
If you are going through depression right now in reading this post know that I have often been right where you are right now and that through meditation and sometimes medical treatment it can be very transformative.
You are not alone in your depression even though you feel like it. I am there with you in the dark sitting beside you with my arms around you. Lean on me and others until you can sit with it and see meditation as a light in the darkness, an island in a rough ocean.
The Diamond Sutra
Anyone who, even for a second, feels a pure, clear confidence on hearing the truth will experience immeasurable happiness. Why? Because, at that moment, that person is not caught up in the concept of a self or a living being or a life span. He is not caught up in concepts about the world, nor is he caught up in concepts about nothingness. He does not take any notice of the idea that this is a sign, or this or that is not a sign.
For if you are caught up in ideas, then you will be caught up in the self. And even if you are caught up in ideas about nothingness, you will still be caught up in the self. That's why we should not get attached to the belief that things either exist or do not exist. This is the hidden meaning when I say that my teachings are a raft to be abandoned when you see true being.
-Diamond Sutra
Don't Use Pointless Words
Better than a thousand pointless words is one saying to the point on hearing which one finds peace.
~Shakyamuni Buddha
The Gift of the Dharma
A gift of Dhamma conquers all gifts;
the taste of Dhamma, all tastes;
a delight in Dhamma, all delights;
the ending of craving, all suffering
and stress.
-Dhammapada, 24
Translated by Thanissaro Bhikku
This reminds me of a time when after sangha a group of us went to a yummy Nepalese/Tibetan restuarant to celebrate a birthday. I remember eating my food and thinking that it tasted better then any food I'd ever eaten (especially the grapes). So I posed the question, "Is it because I just came from meditating and discussion from sangha that it tastes so good?" The guy with the birthday responded saying something to the effect that it's wasn't a coincedence and I agreed. I then realized how much I savor and eat mindfully the orange, cookies and tea that I drink during the discussion time at sangha as well.
It is amazing how far reaching the influence of the Dharma has in our lives. Right down to enjoying and savoring our food and tea that much more because when we eat or drink mindfully we focus on what we are eating and drinking and nothing more.
Too often I just take my plate of food into the living room, plop down on the couch and eat while watching the t.v. I zone out to the point that I'm not even aware as to what I am eating as i shovel it into my mouth. Part of this bad habit is that our place is too small for a dinning room table but the bigger issue is not being mindful when eating.
Being mindful truly does open-up our lives to a much greater and fulfilling experience because we are fully engaged in what we are doing in that moment. This allows us greater interaction with the activity or thought so that we can really feel the unity between us and what we are doing/thinking. This then allows us to have the clarity to either keep doing or thinking what brings us peace or toss out that which does not.
Without mindfulness we are lost to the unending waves of delusion that confuse us, leave one into a fog or lead us astray.
So I feel that I must recommit to being mindful in all things every morning before I even start out into the "rat race." I don't always do this but I am making progress. :)
-Peace to all beings-
