Via Daily Dharma: Step One for Compassion

The first step in compassion is to notice the other’s need. It all begins with the simple act of attention.

—Interview with Daniel Goleman by Sharon Salzberg, “I Feel Your Brain”

Via Daily Dharma: Let It Be

By maintaining a mind of peace and non-opposition, difficulties will naturally fall away.

—Master Sheng-Yen, “Nonopposition”

Via Lion's Roar: The Decision to Become a Buddhist - Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche

Photo by Devanga Wanigasinghe.

Taking refuge in the Buddha, the dharma and the sangha is something more than a ritual, wrote Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche. By taking refuge, we are committing ourselves to freedom.

I take refuge in the Buddha.
I take refuge in the dharma.
I take refuge in the sangha.

In the Buddhist tradition, the purpose of taking refuge is to awaken from confusion and associate oneself with wakefulness. Taking refuge is a matter of commitment and acceptance and, at the same time, of openness and freedom. By taking the refuge vow we commit ourselves to freedom.

There is a general tendency to be involved in all kinds of fascinations and delusions, and nothing very much ever takes root in one’s basic being. 

Everything in one’s life experience, concerning spirituality or anything else, is purely a matter of shopping. Our lives consist of problems of pain, problems of pleasure, problems of points of view—problems about all kinds of alternatives—which make our existence complicated.

We have allegiance to “that” and allegiance to “this.” There are hundreds and millions of choices involved in our lives-particularly in regard to our sense of discipline, our ethics, and our spiritual path. People are very confused in this chaotic world about what is really the right thing to do. There are all kinds of rationales, taken from all kinds of traditions and philosophies. We may try to combine all of them together; sometimes they conflict, sometimes they work together harmoniously. But we are constantly shopping, and that is actually the basic problem.

It is not so much that there is something wrong with the traditions that exist around us; the difficulty is more our own personal conflict arising from wanting to have and to be the best. When we take refuge we give up some sense of seeing ourselves as the good citizen or as the hero of a success story. We might have to give up our past; we might have to give up our potential future. By taking this particular vow, we end our shopping in the spiritual supermarket. We decide to stick to a particular brand for the rest of our lives. We choose to stick to a particular staple diet and flourish on it.

We take a definite vow to enter a discipline of choicelessness—which saves us a lot of money, a lot of energy, and lots and lots of superfluous thinking.

When we take refuge we commit ourselves to the Buddhist path. This is not only a simple but also an extremely economical approach. Henceforth we will be on the particular path that was strategized, designed, and well thought-out twenty-five hundred years ago by the Buddha and the followers of his teaching. There is already a pattern and a tradition; there is already a discipline. We no longer have to run after that person or this person. We no longer have to compare our lifestyle with anybody else’s. Once we take this step, we have no alternatives; there is no longer the entertainment of indulging in so-called freedom. We take a definite vow to enter a discipline of choicelessness—which saves us a lot of money, a lot of energy, and lots and lots of superfluous thinking.

Perhaps this approach may seem repressive, but it is really based on a sympathetic attitude toward our situation. To work on ourselves is really only possible when there are no side-tracks, no exits. Usually we tend to look for solutions from something new, something outside: a change in society or politics, a new diet, a new theory. Or else we are always finding new things to blame our problems on, such as relationships, society, what have you. Working on oneself, without such exits or sidetracks, is the Buddhist path.

By taking refuge, in some sense we become homeless refugees. Taking refuge does not mean saying that we are helpless and then handing all our problems over to somebody or something else. There will be no refugee rations, nor all kinds of security and dedicated help. The point of becoming a refugee is to give up our attachment to basic security. We have to give up our sense of home ground, which is illusory anyway. We might have a sense of home ground as where we were born and the way we look, but we don’t actually have any home, fundamentally speaking. There is actually no solid basis of security in one’s life. And because we don’t have any home ground, we are lost souls, so to speak. Basically we are completely lost and confused and, in some sense, pathetic.

These are the particular problems that provide the reference point from which we build the sense of becoming a Buddhist. Relating to being lost and confused, we are more open. We begin to see that in seeking security we can’t grasp onto anything; everything continually washes out and becomes shaky, constantly, all the time. And that is what is called life.

Acknowledging that the only real working basis is oneself and that there is no way around that, one takes refuge in the Buddha as an example, in the dharma as the path, and in the sangha as companionship.

So becoming a refugee is acknowledging that we are homeless and groundless, and it is acknowledging that there is really no need for home, or ground. Taking refuge is an expression of freedom, because as refugees we are no longer bounded by the need for security. We are suspended in a no-man’s land in which the only thing to do is to relate with the teachings and with ourselves.

The refuge ceremony represents a final decision. Acknowledging that the only real working basis is oneself and that there is no way around that, one takes refuge in the Buddha as an example, in the dharma as the path, and in the sangha as companionship. Nevertheless, it is a total commitment to oneself. The ceremony cuts the line that connects the ship to the anchor; it marks the beginning of an odyssey of loneliness. Still, it also includes the inspiration of the preceptor and the lineage. The participation of the preceptor is a kind of guarantee that you will not be getting back into the question of security as such, that you will continue to acknowledge your aloneness and work on yourself without leaning on anyone. Finally you become a real person, standing on your own feet. At that point, everything starts with you.

This particular journey is like that of the first settlers. We have come to no-man’s land and have not been provided with anything at all. Here we are, and we have to make everything with our own bare hands. We are, in our own way, pioneers: each is a historical person on his own journey. It is an individual pioneership of building spiritual ground. Everything has to be made and produced by us. 

Nobody is going to throw us little chocolate chips or console us with goodies.
If we adopt a prefabricated religion that tells us exactly the best way to do everything, it is as though that religion provides a complete home with wall-to-wall carpeting. We get completely spoiled. We don’t have to put out any effort or energy, so our dedication and devotion have no fiber. We wind up complaining because we didn’t get the deluxe toilet tissue that we used to get. So at this point, rather than walking into a nicely prepared hotel or luxurious house, we are starting from the primitive level. We have to figure out how we are going to build our city and how we are going to relate with our comrades who are doing the same thing.

We have to work with the sense of sacredness and richness and the magical aspect of our experience. And this has to be done on the level of our everyday existence, which is a personal level, an extremely personal level. There are no scapegoats. When you take refuge you become responsible to yourself as a follower of the dharma. You are isolating yourself from the rest of your world in the sense that the world is not going to help you any more; it is no longer regarded as a source of salvation. It is just a mirage, maya. It might mock you, play music for you, and dance for you, but nevertheless the path and the inspiration of the path are up to you. You have to do it. And the meaning of taking refuge is that you are going to do it. You commit yourself as a refugee to yourself, no longer thinking that some divine principle that exists in the holy law or holy scriptures is going to save you. It is very personal. You experience a sense of loneliness, aloneness—a sense that there is no savior, no help. But at the same time there is a sense of belonging: you belong to a tradition of loneliness where people work together.

So taking refuge is a landmark of becoming a Buddhist, a nontheist. You no longer have to make sacrifices in somebody else’s name, trying to get yourself saved or to earn redemption. You no longer have to push yourself overboard so that you will be smiled at by that guy who watches us, the old man with the beard. As far as Buddhists are concerned, the sky is blue and the grass is green—in the summer, of course. As far as Buddhists are concerned, human beings are very important and they have never been condemned—except by their own confusion, which is understandable. If nobody shows you a path, any kind of path, you’re going to be confused. That is not your fault. But now you are being shown the path and you are beginning to work with a particular teacher. And at this point nobody is confused. You are what you are, the teachings are what they are, and I am what I am—a preceptor to ordain you as Buddhist persons.

Taking refuge in the Buddha as an example, taking refuge in the dharma as the path, and taking refuge in the sangha as companionship is very clean-cut, very definite, very precise, and very clear. People have done this for the past twenty-five hundred years of the Buddhist tradition. By taking refuge you receive that particular heritage into your own system; you join that particular wisdom that has existed for twenty-five hundred years without interruption and without corruption. It is very direct and very simple.

Taking Refuge in the Buddha

You take refuge in the Buddha not as a savior—not with the feeling that you have found something to make you secure—but as an example, as someone you can emulate. He is an example of an ordinary human being who saw through the deceptions of life, both on the ordinary and spiritual levels.

The Buddha found the awakened state of mind by relating with the situations that existed around him: the confusion, chaos and insanity. He was able to look at those situations very clearly and precisely. He disciplined himself by working on his own mind, which was the source of all the chaos and confusion. Instead of becoming an anarchist and blaming society, he worked on himself and he attained what is known as bodhi, or enlightenment. The final and ultimate breakthrough took place, and he was able to teach and work with sentient beings without any inhibition.

The example of the Buddha’s life is applicable because he started out in basically the same kind of life that we lead, with the same confusion. But he renounced that life in order to find the truth. He went through a lot of religious “trips.” He tried to work with the theistic world of the Hinduism of the time, and he realized there were a lot of problems with that. Then, instead of looking for an outside solution, he began working on himself. He began pulling up his own socks, so to speak, and he became a buddha. Until he did that, he was just a wishy-washy spiritual tripper. So taking refuge in the Buddha as an example is realizing that our case history is in fact completely comparable with his, and then deciding that we are going to follow his example and do what he did.

This is a nontheistic tradition: the Buddha gave up relying on any kind of divine principle that would descend on him and solve his problems. So taking refuge in the Buddha in no way means regarding him as a god.

One of the big steps in the Buddha’s development was his realization that there is no reason we should believe in or expect anything greater than the basic inspiration that exists in us already. This is a nontheistic tradition: the Buddha gave up relying on any kind of divine principle that would descend on him and solve his problems. So taking refuge in the Buddha in no way means regarding him as a god. He was simply a person who practiced, worked, studied, and experienced things personally. With that in mind, taking refuge in the Buddha amounts to renouncing misconceptions about divine existence. Since we possess what is known as buddhanature, enlightened intelligence, we don’t have to borrow somebody else’s glory. We are not all that helpless. We have our own resources already. A hierarchy of divine principles is irrelevant. It is very much up to us. Our individuality has produced our own world. The whole situation is very personal.

Taking Refuge in the Dharma

Then we take refuge in the teachings of the Buddha, the dharma. We take refuge in the dharma as path. In this way we find that everything in our life situation is a constant process of learning and discovery. We do not regard some things as secular and some things as sacred, but everything is regarded as truth—which is the definition of dharma. Dharma is also passionlessness, which in this case means not grasping, holding on, or trying to possess—it means non-aggression.

Usually, the basic thread that runs through our experience is our desire to have a purely goal-oriented process: everything, we feel, should be done in relation to our ambition, our competitiveness, our one-upmanship. That is what usually drives us to become greater professors, greater mechanics, greater carpenters, greater poets. Dharma—passionlessness—cuts through this small, goal-oriented vision, so that everything becomes purely a learning process. This permits us to relate with our lives fully and properly. So, taking refuge in the dharma as path, we develop the sense that it is worthwhile to walk on this earth. Nothing is regarded as just a waste of time; nothing is seen as a punishment or as a cause of resentment and complaint.

This aspect of taking refuge is particularly applicable in America, where it is quite fashionable to blame everything on others and to feel that all kinds of elements in one’s relationships or surroundings are unhealthy or polluted. We react with resentment. But once we begin to do that, there is no way. The world becomes divided into two sections: sacred and profane, or that which is good and proper and that which is regarded as a bad job or a necessary evil. Taking refuge in the dharma, taking a passionless approach, means that all of life is regarded as a fertile situation and a learning situation, always. Whatever occurs—pain or pleasure, good or bad, justice or injustice—is part of the learning process. So there is nothing to blame; everything is the path, everything is dharma.

Taking refuge in the dharma as path, we develop the sense that it is worthwhile to walk on this earth. Nothing is regarded as just a waste of time; nothing is seen as a punishment or as a cause of resentment and complaint.

That passionless quality of dharma is an expression of nirvana—freedom, or openness. And once we have that approach, then any spiritual practice we might go through becomes a part of the learning situation, rather than merely ritualistic or spiritual, or a matter of religious obligation. The whole process becomes integral and natural.

This approach involves a quality of directness and absence of deception—or we might even say absence of politeness. It means that we actually face the facts of life directly, personally. We do not have to come up with any padding of politeness or ordinary cheapness, but we actually experience life. And it is very ordinary life: pain is pain and pleasure is pleasure. We don’t have to use another word or innuendo. Pain and pleasure and confusion—everything takes place very nakedly. We are simply ordinary. With our friends, with our relatives, in everything that goes on, we can afford to be very simple and direct and personal.

Taking Refuge in the Sangha

Having taken refuge in the Buddha as an example and the dharma as path, then we take refuge in the sangha as companionship. That means that we have a lot of friends, fellow refugees, who are also confused, and who are working with the same guidelines as we are. Everybody is simultaneously struggling with their own discipline. As the members of the sangha experience a sense of dignity, and their sense of taking refuge in the Buddha, dharma, and sangha begins to evolve, they are able to act as a reminder and to provide feedback for each other. Your friends in the sangha provide a continual reference point which creates a continual learning process. They act as mirror reflections to remind you or warn you in living situations. That is the kind of companionship that is meant by sangha. We are all in the same boat; we share a sense of trust and a sense of larger-scale, organic friendship.

So taking refuge in the sangha means being willing to work with your fellow students—your brothers and sisters in the dharma—while being independent at the same time. Nobody imposes his or her heavy notions on the rest of the sangha. Instead, each member of the sangha is an individual who is on the path in a different way from all the others. It is because of that that you get constant feedback of all kinds: negative and positive, encouraging and discouraging. 

These very rich resources become available to you when you take refuge in the sangha, the fellowship of students. The sangha is the community of people who have the perfect right to cut through your trips and feed you with their wisdom, as well as the perfect right to demonstrate their own neurosis and be seen through by you. The companionship within the sangha is a kind of clean friendship—without expectation, without demand, but at the same time, fulfilling.

So we no longer regard ourselves as lone wolves who have such a good thing going on the side that we don’t have to relate with anybody at all. At the same time we must not simply go along with the crowd. Either extreme is too secure. 

The idea is one of constantly opening, giving up completely. There is a lot of need for giving up.

The discipline of taking refuge in the buddha, the dharma, and the sangha is something more than a doctrinal or ritual thing: you are being physically infected with commitment to the buddhadharma; Buddhism is transmitted into your system. At that particular point, the energy, the power, and the blessing of basic sanity that has existed in the lineage for twenty-five hundred years, in an unbroken tradition and discipline from the time of Buddha, enters your system, and you finally become a full-fledged follower of buddhadharma. You are a living future buddha at that point.

 This article is adapted from The Heart of the Buddha, published by Shambhala Publications. ©1991 by Diana J. Mukpo.

Via Daily Dharma: Sweet Solitude

Boredom and loneliness depend on investing in the sense of self. And, ironically, the harder we try to solidify our image of me through activity, the more we create the conditions for boredom to arise. If the sense of self is clearly understood as empty, solitude becomes a cherished companion.

—Ajahn Amaro, “Practicing with the Five Hindrances”

Via Ram Dass / Words of Wisdom - January 23, 2019 💌 Inbox x

For my spiritual work I had to hear what Alan Watts used to say to me: "Ram Dass, God is these forms. God isn't just formless. You're too addicted to formlessness."

I had to learn that I had to honor my incarnation. I've got to honor what it means to be a man, a Jew, an American, a member of the world, a member of the ecological community, all of it. I have to figure out how to do that - how to be in my family, how to honor my father. All of that is part of it. That is the way I come to God, acknowledging my uniqueness. That's an interesting turn-about in a way. That brings spiritual people back into the world.

- Ram Dass -

Namaste Music: Flute Meditation

 

Via Mantra Of Avalokiteshvara | Medicine Buddha Mantra

Mantra Of Avalokiteshvara | Medicine Buddha Mantra, Mantra Of Avalokiteshvara, Mantra of Avalokiteshvara Tibetan.. Mantra Of Avalokiteshvara Lyrics:  

Namo Ratna Trayaya, Namo Arya Jnana Sagara, Vairochana, Byuhara Jara Tathagataya, Arahate, Samyaksam Buddhaya, Namo Sarwa Tathagate Bhyay, Arhata Bhyah, Samyaksam Buddhe Bhyah, Namo Arya Avalokite shoraya Bodhisattvaya, Maha Sattvaya, Maha Karunikaya, Tadyata, Om Dara Dara, Diri Diri, Duru Duru Itte We, Itte Chale Chale, Purachale Purachale, Kusume Kusuma Wa Re, Ili Milli, Chiti Jvalam, Apanaye Shoha. 

Mantra: "musical instrument of thought", manner of speaking, religious writing or speech, a prayer or song of praise; a sacred formula came up to to whatever human god; an mysterious poetry or charming method "occasionally embodied", conjuration, magic spell, enchantment... Video Mantra of Avalokiteshvara Mantra of Avalokiteshvara with lyrics Mantra of Avalokiteshvara words Mantra of Avalokiteshvara Tibetan Mantra Of Avalokiteshvara Mantra of Avalokiteshvara Om Mani Padme Hum !!! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Pev6Q... http://www.youtube.com/user/Meditatio... --- Om Mani Padme Hum !!! ---

Via FB:

Mantra of Avalokiteshvara, Om Mani Padme Hum, Prajna-paramita Hrdaya

Namo Ratna Trayaya,  Namo Arya Jnana  Sagara, Vairochana,  Byuhara Jara Tathagataya,  Arahate, Samyaksam Buddhaya,  Namo Sarwa Tathagate Bhyay,  Arhata Bhyah,  Samyaksam Buddhe Bhyah,  Namo Arya Avalokite  shoraya Bodhisattvaya,  Maha Sattvaya,  Maha Karunikaya,  Tadyata, Om Dara Dara,  Diri Diri, Duru Duru  Itte We, Itte Chale Chale,  Purachale Purachale,  Kusume Kusuma Wa Re,  Ili Milli, Chiti Jvalam, Apanaye Shoha

Via Buddhist Today / FB

Via ‎Thich Nhat Hanh Philosophy & Practice Visual Storyteller / FB

"All objects of the senses—visual, auditory, olfactory, gustatory, and tangible—as well as the objects of the mental sense power—in sum, all phenomena that appear to the six senses, are the object of negation. 

They’re all hallucinations. 

The entire world, even the Dharma path, hell, god realm, positive and negative karma, and enlightenment, were made up by your own mind.

Your mind projected the hallucination of things existing from their own side.

This hallucination of inherent existence is the foundation. Then, on top of that, you pay attention to certain attributes and label “wonderful,” “horrible,” or “nothing much.” When you think, “He’s awful” and get angry, you label the person an enemy.

Not aware that you created the enemy, you believe there is a truly existent one out there and project all sorts of other notions on him."

~Lama Zopa Rinpoche

Namo Avalokiteshvara 12 08 2014 EIAB

Via Daily Dharma: Embodying Practice

How, then, to put our minds in a space where practice is always there, whether tumultuous or in the doldrums? It requires a completely radical view of practice: practice is not something we do; it is something we are.

—Roshi Pat Enkyo O’Hara, “Like a Dragon in Water”

Via FB:

Via Tricycle: Martin Luther King at 90

Martin Luther King at 90

A selection of articles showing how the civil rights icon’s message has resonated with Buddhists

his week marks 90 years since the birth of Baptist minister and civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., who was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee, in 1968. King’s commitment to nonviolence and equality continues to resonate with many of us on the Buddhist path today, and King himself was inspired by his friendship with Thich Nhat Hanh, then a young Vietnamese monk in exile.

• Blueprints of Freedom  By Charles Johnson
  Read about how Martin Luther King Jr. brought Gandhi’s nonviolent resistance to the United States and revolutionized the civil rights movement.
•  
• Brown Body, White Sangha  By Atia Sattar
  One practitioner reflects on the painful emotions that can arise when a predominately white sangha glosses over issues surrounding heritage. 
•  
• What the Buddha Taught Us about Race  By Emma Varvaloucas
  The well-known Thai forest monk Thanissaro Bhikkhu talks about his translation of the Sutta Nipata, a collection of early discourses that include powerful words from the Buddha about judging people on their actions, not their birth or social status.  
•  
• Teachings for Uncertain Times: Racism Is a Heart Disease
  With Ruth King
  An Insight Meditation teacher and life coach offers six practices for establishing racial awareness and well-being, including doing no harm, establishing mindfulness of the breath and body, and forming racial affinity groups.  
• 
  
• Why Are There So Many Black Buddhists?
  By J. Sunara Sasser J. Sunara Sasser writes about finding her spiritual home with a Nichiren Buddhist organization that has been addressing inequality for decades.

 Make the jump here to read the original

Via Daily Dharma: Love Conquers Hate

We fear that hate will win because it has killed millions of people—both literally and in spirit—over the centuries. There is certainly evidence that we could perish under hate-filled regimes. And yet the power of love can be as strong as the power of hate. There is also evidence that love could prevail.

—Zenju Earthlyn Manuel, “Remembering Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.”

Via Ram Dass / Words of Wisdom - January 20, 2019 💌

Ours is a journey toward simplicity, toward quietness, toward a kind of joy that is not in time. In this journey out of time, we are leaving behind every model we have of who we thought we were. This journey involves a transformation of our being so that our thinking mind becomes our servant rather than our master. It's a journey that takes us from primary identification with our psyche to identification with our souls, then to identification with God, and ultimately beyond any identification at all.

Life is an incredible curriculum in which we live richly and passionately as a way of awakening to the deepest truths of our being. As a soul, I have only one motive: to merge with God. As a soul, I live in the moment, in each rich and precious moment, and I am filled with contentment.

- Ram Dass -

Via Daily Dharma: Seeing Is Understanding

Before you can act on anything with effectiveness, you have to understand it—and that is where sitting comes in. That is where the attention matters.

—Paul Kingsnorth, “The Witness”

Via Lion’s Roar / GRANDMA’S RIDDLE

Editor’s Note: Lion’s Roar magazine is proud to introduce its new art director, Megumi Yoshida. In today’s Weekend Reader, Megumi writes about the early influence of Buddhism in her life.

At 6am, one ring of the shrine bell would wake me up. Breathing in energetically, grandma would sing:

Bussetsu ma-ka-han-nya-ha-ra-mi-ta-shingyo

As she sang the Heart Sutra in a weird, monotone voice, I would slowly get out of the warm futon next to hers. When she was done, we’d go to the kitchen where the shinto shrine sat up high, and pray for a good day ahead. This was my daily routine until I was about six years old.

...fu-zo-fu-ghenze-ko- / ku-chu-mu-shikimu- / ju-so-gyo-shiki / mu-ghenni-ji-bi-de-shin-/ i-…

To me this was a riddle:

...wind elephant, wind, tax-cut child / mid-air dream, colour blind / baking soda, line-style / no-limit, ni-ji-bi-de- [mysterious word], new / frown...

It was an absolute shock when I first heard the English version. “No increasing, no decreasing... no eyes, no ears, no nose...” What?!

I had no idea, and neither did grandma, I bet. She breathed and inserted word breaks where it didn’t make sense. The sutra is written and recited in in the antiquated Japanese form of old Chinese poems, and she clearly memorized the sound of the chanting without the proper word breaks. The only word I got right was “air/sky/empty” which appeared many times in the song (aha!).

She would have learned this through her diligent pilgrimages to many temples; regular visits to Mount Koya, where our family grave is; and from frequent visits by the chief priest from our local temple. She recited the sutra every single morning and every single evening. This was her practice and way of life.

I am grateful for the mysterious riddle she left with me. It led me to the wonderful dharma community at Lion’s Roar. It led me to meet the teachings of Thich Nhat Hanh, Pema Chödrön (both of whom remind me of grandma), and others — teachings like the three below.

Gya-te-gya-te-haragya-te-hara-san-gya-te-bowaji-sowaka-han-nya-shin-gyo-

I’ll always remember how she used to sing and smile.

 

—Megumi Yoshida, art director, Lion’s Roar magazine

In memory of Chiyoko Yoshida (1912–2008)