A personal blog by a graying (mostly Anglo with light African-American roots) gay left leaning liberal progressive married college-educated Buddhist Baha'i BBC/NPR-listening Professor Emeritus now following the Dharma in Minas Gerais, Brasil.
The
mind that sees something quickly dies, and a different consciousness
hears a sound. No self or soul carries over from one perceptual act to
the next. In truth, your life-span is only one moment long.
The
game of powers is always very simple: Don’t use them. The minute you
get a power and say, “I’ve got this power, I will use it,” you’re stuck
again. A new attachment, a new ego trip. Don’t use them, rather let them
be used through you.
Purity brings powers. Unfortunately, that’s one of the lions at the gate
that brings you incredible powers. The minute you’re a little less
attached than everybody else, you have incredible power over everybody,
because you don’t want anything that everybody else wants so much. The
minute you don’t want so much, suddenly you’re free, in a way that you
can’t believe because you’re so used to being trapped in this network of
needs and desires.
In
the very act of sitting, we actualize the completeness of the act
itself and we actualize our own full completeness as a useless human
being, another name for which is Buddha.
The
only parts of the practice that can be described with confidence are
the rough, cerebral edges. What happens at the center, when the mind
quiets down, is impossible to verbalize.
It is not possible
To control all external events
But, if I simply control my mind,
What need is there to control other things?
—Shantideva
The
anger, fear, and confusion that has rippled through the country for
some time came to a head last night when Donald J. Trump was elected the
45th president of the United States. Regardless of your political
affiliation, it’s undeniable that the nation has entered uncharted
territory. Here in New York City, where Tricycle is headquartered, the
tension is palpable.
What
do the Buddhist teachings have to offer us in such times of stress,
turbulence, and uncertainty? In sum: the radical notion that when we
cultivate an equanimous mind, even the most extreme external
circumstances do not hold sway.
Here are five essays and one video teaching that offer refuge amid great
anxiety and change. Consider these pieces a Buddhist “care package” to
inspire healing in the often acrimonious and dispiriting atmosphere of
the recent political upheaval.