Cattāri Brahmavihārā

Posted by: Michael | 05/23/2013

Tayata Om Muni Muni Maha Munaye Soha

The title of today’s post is the mantra of the Lord Buddha according to the Tibetan tradition. If you have been following my posts of late, you will know that I am exploring the Karma Kagyu tradition of Tibetan Buddhism with a view to learning additional techniques for cultivating the brahma viharas, especially compassion Still, I am continually finding myself stymied by my own preferences and proclivities. Perhaps the greatest stumbling blocks for me are the bodhisattva ideal of aspiring to full buddhahood and of venerating and taking refuge in deities and beings other than the Ti-Sarana.

In regard to the first issue, I simply cannot honestly declare that I want to achieve the state of a samma-sambuddha for the sake of all beings let alone understand what such an aspiration would mean. Even the Lord Buddha himself paused immediately after his Awakening and considered if he should teach for the benefit of all beings before being asked to do so by Brahma. So, although I commend and take inspiration form the Mahayana in certain respects, I certainly cannot aspire to be a buddha nor lead other eigs to buddhahood. Maybe it’s simply a problem of terminology but it is a problem for me nonetheless.

The second issue is one that has actually caused a truly visceral reaction: taking refuge in other beings besides the Buddha, Dhamma and Sangha. Initially, when I considered exploring the Vajrayana I thought I could hack it but the idea of venerating and placing Avalokiteshvara above the Lord Buddha literally fills me with disgust and dread. I am, quite frankly, surprised and embarrassed by my reaction but I guess I didn’t realize quite how deeply my saddha had penetrated into my heart.

So, because I hate to give up a project once I have undertaken to complete it I went in search of sadhana and visualization practices that took the Lord Gotama Buddha as their object of veneration and refuge. Hence the mantra which I am using for the title of this post. In addition to the mantra, there are several sadhanas which require only a slight bit of editing for me to be able to use them in my practice and there are also a number of visualization meditations which I would like to learn as an alternate way of practicing buddhanussati. Why all the trouble to reinvent the wheel? Well, as I said, I am interested in learning additional practices not found in my home tradition and my stumbling upon the Sakyamuni mantra and visualization just gives me more of an impetus to do so. I think it’s especially timely given that tomorrow is Visakha Puja.

Please find these excellent mediation instructions on visualizing the Lord Buddha here:

In addition, you can find many variations of the mantra on YouTube but here is a good one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=cUu0zy4AW1c

2013 Vesak Day Celebration (sdcsg.wordpress.com)
Let us live “NOW” (buddhasalblog.com)
Lessons from a Buddhist Lama: Thompson Street, NYC (lovelaughbelight.com)

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Posted in Buddhism, Daily Practice, Dhamma, Formal Meditation, Karuna, Parami, Theravada | Tags: brahmavihara, buddha dhamma, Buddhahood, Buddhism, Gautama Buddha, gotama buddha, kagyu, karma kagyu tradition, Lineages, LOrd Buddha, mantra, religion, Religion and Spirituality, spirituality, Tibetan, Tibetan Buddhism, Vajrayana, YouTube

Posted by: Michael | 05/22/2013

Unshaken by Praise and Blame

The household life, at least mine, is filled with blame. It always seems as if someone is doing something wrong and, if it isn’t obvious, I’m feeling that that certain someone is me of late. Originally, as I considered what I would post about this morning, I thought I would write about the paradox of trying to make someone else happy by changing one’s own behavior. Yet, as I pondered it I realized I was falling into the same old trap of resentment and attempting to do the impossible by making myself responsible for someone else’s happiness.

It was somewhere around this point that I realized that the issue was simply a lack of equanimity in the face of blame. I see now that just as I am not responsible for another’s happiness they are just as much off the hook when it comes to my own. In short, by allowing myself to be moved by the winds of blame and praise I am giving up any and all power to shape my own destiny. It’s interesting to think of what might happen were the situation to be reversed: if I were being praised constantly I don’t believe I would even be writing this. In all honesty, I would be lost in the praise of another and become a slave (as I have so many times before) to their approval. So, in a weird way, I am happy that this seeming over-abundance of blame has caused me to remember this incredibly important teaching.

May I ever be mindful of the dangers of praise and be reminded to cultivate a peaceful heart through difficulty.

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Posted in Buddhism, Daily Practice, Dhamma, Parenting, Practice at Work, Theravada, Upekkha | Tags: equanimity, praise and blame, upekkha, worldly winds

Posted by: Michael | 05/21/2013

Unbearable Compassion

My little girl fractured her leg yesterday and now has to endure four long weeks in a cast during which she cannot walk, jump, run or otherwise put any weight on her leg. Suffice it to say that she doesn’t understand the necessity of the cast and continuously asks to take it off.

Now, in many ways, I feel I am either deficient or (more than likely) simply not in touch with my feelings of love and concern which is why I feel the need to put so much emphasis on the formal practice of the brahmaviharas. Yet, as I contemplated her leg stuck in a cast for a month intense feelings of claustrophobia and nausea swept over me. At times I almost felt as if I were going to crawl out of my skin the feeings were so overwhelming. I’m not sure if the tonglen practice of taking her suffering and giving her my ease was responsible for the reaction or if it would have happened regardless but I realize only now that upekkha was missing from the equation and rather than opening my heart I met the experience with fear and aversion.

Another thing tthat has troubled me is my role in addressing the situation at hand: when my wife called I immediately hopped on a train to meet them at the doctor’s and then escorted them to the hospital before continuing on to pick up my son. But, and my wife has made her displeasure with me on this point known, there’s not much more I can do. I have to go to work and so my wife has to figure out how to ferry our two kids back from Brooklyn today and how to accomplish the various and sundry tasks of quotidian life with a child who must now be carried everywhere. What am I to do? I feel horrible and wish there were more I could do but I simply don’t see anything I can do to change the situation. In this case I will simply need to stay alert to the places where I can help while still fulfilling my rolle as the sole provider.

Sabbe satta sabba dukkha pamuccantu!

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Posted in Buddhism, Daily Practice, Dhamma, Formal Meditation, Karuna, Metta, Parenting, Practice at Work, Theravada, Upekkha | Tags: compassion, equanimity, family, karuna, Tonglen, upekkha

Posted by: Michael | 05/20/2013

Dissonance

On paper this morning was perfect: I woke up early enough to get in 50 minutes of mediation and had time to chant the refuges, precepts and the brahmaviharas. After that, however, the mind seemingly soured and rather than enjoying a mind elevated and brightened by my meditation it felt almost as if I hadn’t meditated at all. And, although I can’t know why, it is clear that what arose was nothing less than the fruits of my past thoughts, words and deeds. In fact, the waves of resentment, irritation and anger that broke over me with the insistence of a rising tide were nothing if not familiar. After years of deaing with stresses in unskillful ways and succumbing to angry impulses what more did I really expect? If anything, the mindfulness and concentration which I was able to cultivate most likely allowed me to see more clearly just what it was that was going on under the surface in a way that would not have been possible had I not meditated. Still, the dissonance between the peace of anapanasati and the jarring, Monday morning reality was enough to almost knock me completely off my feet. Thankfully, however, this practice of reflection has become enough of a habit that it gives me the ability to reflect on what is happening before it gets too far.

May we appreciate the bleesings of our practice! May we be ever grateful not only to our teachers but to all beings who make practice possible!

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Posted in Anapanasati, Buddhism, Daily Practice, Dhamma, Formal Meditation, Gratitude, Metta, Theravada | Tags: Anapanasati, anger, aversion, irritation, meditation, resentment

Posted by: Michael | 05/19/2013

Explorations

As some of you may know, I have been experimenting with tonglen as a method of karuna bhavana. However, because there seems to be a dearth of material on the subject that I haven’t already read I found myself at an impasse. It was at this point that I recalled I had undertaken a similar search about four years ago when I registered for the Dharma Patha program through http://www.kagyu.com, the site of the Kagyu tradition.

For a number of reasons, but mostly due to my own doctrinal misgivings, I never finished the program but I find myself drawn to learn more about tonglen and the various and sundry techniques for cultivating the brahma viharas. Now, I must admit to feeling somewhat foolish as I have attempted this once before and gave up so I will make the aditthana to finish the program come what may and just observe my aversion towards understandings of the Dhamma that don’t jive with my own. At present I view the Mahayana and Vajrayana as the logical outgrowth of a pursuit of the brahma viharas and that is how I intend to put to rest any qualms I have with certain aspects of the practice I will be undertaking. I hope to share more shortly but, it being a Sunday, I have precious little time to post.

Rakkhantu sabba devata!

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Posted in Buddhism, Daily Practice, Dhamma, Formal Meditation, Karuna, Metta, Theravada | Tags: brahma vihara, dharma path program, kagyu, karuna bhavana, Tonglen

Posted by: Michael | 05/18/2013

An Opportunity Taken

We’re with the inlaws today to celebrate a cousin’s graduation from university. As always there seems to be much that needs doing and despite my initial inclination to allow the frenetic preparations to pass me by I took the first opportunity that presented itself to lend a hand. Yes, it may seem as if I’m making a mountain out of a mole hill but the idea that I can use my daily life to practice the paramis and meet the people in it with love and compassion has really begun to take hold in a non-conceptual way.

May we not allow any opportunity to practice pass. May we make of our lives garlands of virtue and good-will.

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Posted in Buddhism, Daily Practice, Dana, Dhamma, Metta, Parenting, Practice at Work, Upekkha | Tags: opportunity, parami

Posted by: Michael | 05/17/2013

Happy Uposatha – Free from Animosity

Today is an uposatha and one of the first things that I saw when I stepped out of my building and turned towards 1st Ave was one of these ubiquitous, double-decker tourist buses. Now, don’t ask me why but these buses have a bad reputation in the city and are often the object of scorn for those of us who live here. So, immediately upon seeing the bus I felt an initial wave of resentment wash over me but it was, thankfully, quickly supplanted by a thought of metta for everyone on the bus.

As I said, I cannot fathom why I was initially tempted to indulge in ill-will against a literal busload of people whose only crime was to be a visitor to a city they don’t live in for the greater part of the year. Yet, the fact remains that I have done so often in my past about this and a hundred other things that I shudder to think about the results of such kamma. What’s more, I was doing all of this while ostensibly treading the path blazed by the Blessed One and his Noble Disciples–how much worse off would I have been had I not met with the Dhamma?

So, on this uposatha day may my heart be filled with gratitude for all of those upasakas, upasikas, bhikkhus and bhikkhunis and all of the great saints and teachers who have taught the path to peace. May I ever practice with a mind imbued with goodwill, compassion, joy and peace until I make an end t

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Posted in Dhamma

Posted by: Michael | 05/16/2013

All Wrong

This morning I woke up in a haze and it has more or less continued until now. My mediation was cut short but my five year old’s unusually early rising from bed and my wife was not in the best of moods. As I moved through the morning hours I got word that the guy we had hired yesterday was almost a half hour late and I ended up having to fire him. In short, today just feels all wrong.

What is funny is that while all of this has been happening I have also been reflecting on the nature of samsara in terms of the huge stretches of time referred to in the suttas and with reference to the unimaginably vast numbers of galaxies in the universe. I heard today that there are more stars in the known universe than there are grains of sand on all the beaches on the planet and was just left awe-struck: facts like these can lead either to deep deprression or a feeling of incredible liberation depending upon how you hold them and the way your minds. Still, when faced with such contemplations I often feel lost and as if I am adrift at sea.

My immediate reaction is to think that whatever we do is meaningless given how infintesimally small we are but, almost simultaneously, the thought that the only thing that matters is how and why we do whatever do arises. I ca see the first thought as the result of years and possibly lifetimes of nihilistic thinking as it used to be where the mental monologue stopped before I met the Dhamma. I see now that my faith in kamma has allowed me to consider another solution to the quandary although I don’t know quite how to articulate my faith and how it makes sense.

What I do know is that, seen in the light of the Dhamma, the vast stretches of time that are required to understand geological, stellar and cosmic change make complete sense. In other words, what I am trying so clumsily to say is that I am, we are, so very fortunate to have encountered and practiced the Dhamma in this life for we know not when we may evr have a similar opportunity.

May all beings meet with the True Dhamma and work to make an end to their suffering!

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Posted in Dhamma | Tags: Buddha, Dhamma, kalpas, samsara, suffering, wrong

Posted by: Michael | 05/15/2013

Metta Bhavana as a Parami Practice

I walked home with my teacher last night after meditation and we ended up talking about a number of things concerning the practice but the one thing that stood out was his encouragement to take up metta bhavana not as a concetration practice but as what he has termed a parami practice. Writing it down I realize that I should have queiried him a little more on his reasoning for labeling it as parami practice in contradistinction to concentration practice but I think I have inuited the meaning. In short, since we use anapanasati as the primary practice in our community we are encouraged to devote as much quality time to it as possible. So, while my teacher recommends we practice metta bhavana it isn’t intended to produce jhana as he advises we do 10 to 15 minutes of it at a maximum during our daily practice.

Although there is a part of me that wants to question and find fault with his advice it seems that I am pretty much already practicing in this way. For whatever reason, anapanasati seems to lead me more easily into states of ease and deeper concentration the does metta bhavana and my sessions of the latter have always been shorter. So, I will follow my teacher’s recommendations not solely out of respect but also because (once again) his counsel seems to be wise and well-spoken. Having said that I intend to orgainze my daily practice with a 50 minute AM anapanasati, a 35 minute PM anapanasati and 10 minutes of metta bhavana late PM. Wish me luck!

May all beings have happiness and the causes of happinesss!

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Posted in Anapanasati, Daily Practice, Dhamma, Formal Meditation, Metta, Theravada | Tags: Anapanasati, jhana, meditation, metta bhavana, parami, practice

Posted by: Michael | 05/14/2013

Peace and Compassion

I have, for quite some time, been in the habit of reciting the first metta phrase as “May I be happy and peaceful,” which is not borne out by the Pali aham sukhito homi as far as I can tell but has always seemed somehow right to me nonetheless. I am no Pali scholar (I barely know more than a few words) but I believe the Pali for peace is santi and I can only thing of one place off hand where I have heard it used in the context of metta bhavana. This stands in marked contrast to the ubiquitous sukho and its various declensions. It’s no surprise then that I have found myself questioning my use of the phrase in metta practice despite the feelings of calm and, well, peace it evokes in my heart.

Still, this morning as I struggled to rein in the body and mind (it didn’t help to hear the constant scratching of mice in the floors) I realized that what I needed was an attitude of non-contention, compassion and acceptance for what was happeninng more so than brute and uncompromising force. This is, perhaps, precisely what I intend when I repeat “May I be at peace” and why the words have so much power; in short, I use the stick a little more liberally than I would like to admit even when I know the carrot is far more effective.

May I be at peace and work with whatever arises from a heart of compassion. May I accept the challenges and limitations of the moment and learn the true meaning of samma vayamo.

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Posted in Buddhism, Daily Practice, Dhamma, Forgiveness, Formal Meditation, Karuna, Metta, Theravada | Tags: acceptance, compassion, karuna, metta, metta bhavana, pace, pax, paz, Peace, right effort, samma vayamo, santi, shanti