What is tonglen when you’re not willing to park the car? What is karuna bhavana when you don’t let your partner sleep in? What is dana parami of you pass up a negar on the street simply because it would be an inconvenience?
There are countless opportunities to polish my paramis. May I not waste this life by failing to practice them. Regardless of how hard, anxiety producing or boring or may be may I live with integrity and put my pursuit of bodhicitta always to the fore.
Posted in Bodhisattvayana, Buddha, Buddhism, Dana, Dhamma, Parami, Theravada, Tibetan Buddhism | Tags: generosity, perfection
I’ve been reflecting a lot on dana (generosity) and, to my unenlightened mind, it seems as if I it really does contain much of the path. Many of us will be familiar with the shorthand formulation of the path expressed as dana, sila and bhavana but it really seems that dana is present in all three. Interestingly enough I see the spirit of giving even more clearly in each of the paramis. Well, interesting to me at any rate. More later but now soccer and rock band and then out to the in-laws.
I bow to the Lord of Compassion!
All sentient beings, my mothers,
wish happiness; all wish to avoid suffering.
If all my mothers suffer, how can this child be happy?
Bless me to take away their suffering.
I take into my heart
all their suffering and the causes of suffering.
ram yam kham
By the fire of aspiration and the wind of compassion,
it dissolves into emptiness.
om ah hum
I give them all my happiness and the causes of happiness.
Bless me to give all gain and victory to them.
I shall suffer the consequences of my unskillful acts,
if not this very day, then shortly after—
bless me to eat the bitter fruit before it ripens.
so’ham sa’ham
Gain and victory to others, loss and defeat to myself!
Whenever and wherever I meet my anguished parents,
bless me to mount this aspiration on the breath.
Mind Training 7 – 9: Formal Practice — Tonglen: Giving and Taking
Train alternately in taking and giving.
Begin close to yourself.
Mount the two upon the breath.
RAM YAM KHAM
This is a general and very common purification Mantra. Often found at the beginning of many Tibetan Sadhanas (practice texts.)
Ram is the seed syllable representing fire and red in color – Purifying through burning up all impurities.
Yam is the seed syllable representing air and typically blue in color – Purifying through blowing away impurities.
Kham is the seed syllable representing water and typically white in color – Purifying by washing away all impurities.Combined we are purifying with fire, water, and air. In this case we are purifying through our speech and our visualizations to all of the immediate surroundings in which we are practicing. As an extension, We are also purifying ourself, others and all surroundings for as far as we can visualize.
OM AH HUNG
This is the resonance of purity of Body, Speech, and Mind.
OM – White in color (like water) and focused at the crown chakra is the sound vibration to purify the body.
AH – Red in color (like fire) and focused at the throat chakra is the sound vibration to purify speech.
HUNG – Blue in color (like the sky/air) and focused at the heart chakra is the sound vibration to purify the mind and thinking.Through such repetition of the mantra, we are purifying our body, our speech, and our mind. We then maintain the purity of body, speech, and mind at the very least to our practice and ideally beyond to all of the future It is up to us to maintain pure conduct and commitments to maintain the purity.
http://almostdzogchen.blogspot.com/2006/07/ram-yam-kham-om-ah-hung.html
Posted in Bodhisattvayana, Buddha, Buddhism, Dhamma, Karuna, Tibetan Buddhism | Tags: Dzogchen, Tonglen, Venerable Tashi Nyima
May I become…a servant for all who want me as their servant.
-Shantideva
I’ve experimented with this practice before, that is, of giving whenever asked, and had some success but was often thwarted by my own resentment and aversion. It is much easier to buy merit through offerings of food or material goods, than it is for me to do everything that is asked of me at home. I often feel that it’s somehow unfair or that I’m doing “more than my share” when I am asked to clean this, change this, fix this or put this one to bed. And, on those rare occasions when I’m able to forbear, it can even seen as if my wife is testing to see how far she can push it.
And yet, could there really be a better training ground? My apologies for constantly harping on about this, but it’s really a blessing to be able to transform supposedly bad circumstances into Dhamma. How fortunate am I to have met the Teachings and be paired with someone devoted to developing my patience. And yet, I have begun to honestly feel that all of this is incredibly damaging to her. If I didn’t have such strong faith in kamma I would even say it’s unfair that I am driving so much benefit while she is gathering up a store of suffering.
I played a Dhamma talk by Ajahn Nitho which was a sutta study and covered the results of being an angry person. Since I can’t broach the topic in regular conversation without her getting angry I decided to play it while they are dinner and I washed dishes. At first she said I was being judgemental but soon she was listening attently. I hope I can continue to find ways to help my wife plant seeds of future happiness and a peaceful abiding in the present – even if I lose my greatest teacher of patience in the process.
Posted in Bodhisattvayana, Buddha, Buddhism, Dana, Dhamma, Family Life, Theravada, Tibetan Buddhism | Tags: compassion, marriage, patience, shantideva, wife
So I did it: I gave some gifts to a monk I consider to be one of my greatest teachers and whose practice never ceases to inspire me. The cost was pretty steep and I had to watch the mind constantly lest I were to fall prey to thoughts of greed and miserliness but I did it.
I’m grateful not only for the opportunity to give to such a bhikkhu but also for the lesson in perfecting generosity. I see I still have so far to go before I could ever hope to give my body and very life away if a thousand dollars required so much hand wringing.
May the merit of today’s dana be shared by all beings and may it be especially useful for alleviating the sufferings of those in the states of woe.
One of my monk friends and I were discussing (via email) mudita recently and he bright up the fact that it is often taught in a way not entirely in accord with the suttas. According to the venerable, mudita is not really used as the antidote to envy but is meant to arouse energy and is the far enemy of arati (Arati, (f.) (a + rati) dislike, discontent, aversion Sn. 270, 436, 642, 938).
Be that as it may, he suggested that recollecting the kinds of kamma that create favorable material conditions is the best way to combat envy. If we truly believe in kamma and vipaka then this only makes sense. As such, he suggested I challenge myself by making more extravagant than usual acts of giving (no, he didn’t suggest to himself). Interestingly enough, although I jumped at the chance, there has been some resistance. Perhaps it’s the fear of lacking or loss but I have had to put some unskilfull thinking to the side and focus on the joy of giving and its results. As much as I think I have unshakable faith in the Dhamma, it is instructive to see how the foundations of my saddha can be shaken by a few hundred dollars.
Posted in Buddha, Buddhism, Dana, Dhamma, Mudita, Samma Sāti, Theravada | Tags: faith, generosity, saddha
What kind of sense does it make to allow irritation and annoyance to take hold due to unfavorable training circumstances when all practices should be leading to the sabe goal? Why the ill-will when my meditation is interrupted? If I’m practicing for the good of all and apparently willing to assist for endless kalpas of time, how can the daily disturbances so easily knock me off my seat?
May I learn to take joy in the challenges of life for without them I might succumb to delusion and believe myself to be beyond them. May I use all of the difficulties of this life as a training ground and may I never abandon any being to aversion.
Posted in Bodhisattvayana, Buddha, Buddhism, Dhamma, Karuna, Lojong, mahayana, Theravada, Tibetan Buddhism | Tags: compassion, kalpas, marriage, suffering
What excuse can there be for allowing myself to be swept up by anger or resentment when I know the path to liberation leafs across that stream and not down it? A moment’s irritation may come unbidden but how foolish would I be to nurture it like a spark in a bed of kindling? The conditions are there to create a blaze that would quickly reduce all of my merit to ashes so why would I do anything but cultivate Right Effort now that I know where the defilements lead?
May I always renounce ill-will, lust and stupidity as soon as I see it.
May I never abandon any mother being.
May I ever be born into favorable training circumstances.
May I never lost hope and work for kalpas to become of supreme benefit to all beings.
Posted in Bodhisattvayana, Buddha, Buddhism, Dhamma, Karuna, mahayana, Metta, samma vayamo, Theravada, Tibetan Buddhism | Tags: compassion, kalpas
What is the difference between Mahayana and Theravada? Sometimes, Theravada is also called Hinayana so this audio talk, speaks on the difference between Mahayana and Hinayana.
https://americanmonk.org/the-difference-between-bodhisatva-and-bodhisatta/
Posted in Bodhisattvayana, Buddha, Buddhism, Dhamma, Theravada, Tibetan Buddhism | Tags: Bhante Subhuti, Bodhisattva
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THIS LEAVES MUDITA AND UPEKKHA as the ugly ducklings in the meditation retreat scene. There is no reason for not having “mudita” or “upekkha” retreats, as well. Let me try to convince you, for example, that mudita is no ugly duckling but a most dazzling swan radiant in its white purity.
I’ll keep using the Pali word “mudita” because I feel that the common English renderings of the term are somewhat limited. Altruistic, sympathetic, and appreciative joy — the commonly found translations — all somehow touch on the quality of mudita, but none by itself fully describes this sublime emotion.
Mudita is altruistic in the sense that it is connected with the unselfish benefit of others and is directly opposed to envy —its far enemy. It is sympathetic or (as the break down of the word suggests) a common nexus of “pathos,” the “shared experience of feeling,” or the putting oneself in the shoes of the happy person.
But mudita also shares a quality of subtlety, because it requires a certain refinement in awareness to appreciate and respond with one’s own happiness to the happiness of others. It is because of this last quality that it may be promoted up to the lofty heights of the third jhana. At this level of consciousness, joy (piti) has been left behind and happiness (sukha) pervades the mind. Since this is superior to the relative coarseness of the previous state partaking of joy, thus placing mudita on its highest pedestal, it may be suggested that we refer to it as appreciative-, sympathetic-, or altruistic happiness.
YET THE DEFINITION WOULD STILL not be complete. Mudita shows herself also as the happiness that arises due to the performance of others’ meritorious deeds. This is a lovely slant on the quality of mudita since the Blessed One has made reference to the fact that meritorious deeds are none other than a synonym for happiness!
I like to think of mudita as “inexpensive happiness,” for it is readily available if we just open our hearts a little bit. Consider that what characterizes human existence is that, in contrast to other realms of existence, it partakes of a fair balance between the experiences of pleasure and pain. This means that even though, in the final analysis, existence is unsatisfactory, humans have their fair share of joy and pleasure —a fact never denied by the Buddha.
It is because of these conditions that one may find unlimited opportunities to rejoice in this world. It is, in principle, not necessary to directly seek and enjoy happiness and pleasure for “oneself” — an often-toilsome affair in our materialistic world! All that is required is to look around for a suitable being for letting oneself be selflessly immersed in their happiness.
Mudita is in this sense not only “inexpensive,” but capable of turning into a superior trade off because, given enough practice, one may actually generate it orders of magnitude beyond the happiness that originally triggered it.
What a deal you’ve got! I’m so happy for you!
HEY! CHEER UP WITH MUDITA!
By Bhikkhu Thitapuñño
Improving Lives through Generosity
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Cattāri Brahmavihārā 