Relentless study: Having stressed the importance of relentless study, Pabongka Rinpoche identifies that we must study at the ‘correct level’. As long a the teachings that we study cover the whole range of meditation topics, the ‘correct level’ depends entirely on our own intellectual level.
“If the text is complete, it can lead you along the path, regardless of the amount of detail it has to offer – in the same way that the huge room of a minister of state and a monk’s cell both serve their own purposes” pg. 79
3 faults of a vessel: Pabongka Rinpoche describes the 3 faults of a vessel:
- The fault of being like an upturned vessel: so we need to focus entirely during the teaching
- The fault of being like a stained vessel: so we need to listen with the right motivation – bodhicitta
- The fault of being like a leaky vessel: so we need to ask ourselves what the best way of retaining the information is, and do that
6 helpful attitudes: Of the 6 helpful attitudes (pg.82) the one that really stood out for me was 4. the attitude that diligent practice will cure the illness. I find it difficult to fit meditation into my regular daily routine. The idea being that after you have studied or received the teachings from a qualified teacher and considered it as personal instruction, you must then go on to put the personal instruction into practice.
“Yet the patient does not take this most wholesome
And precious medicine, the potential cure,
Do not blame the doctor; the medicine’s not at fault.
Rather, the patient himself is to blame” pg.85
While I am trying to put the teachings into practice in my daily life, I am failing to incorporate my study into my formal meditation practice. So there is a gap here. Pabanongka Rinpoche goes on to explain that this gap is in fact dangerous:
“Too much study and too little meditation is cause to become unyielding toward the Dharma”
Not abandoning the dharma
August 16, 2011
Liberation in the Palm of Your Hand, pg.68 states:
distinctions such as Mahayana versus Hinayana, or theoretical Dharma versus practical Dharma – and abandon part of the Dharma, producing a continual stream of the direct type of karma. The obscuration that result are extremely heavy
The idea being that abandoning any of the Buddhadharma is a bad idea because it results in a heavy unwholesome deed.
I am am often quick to focus on the areas of the dharma that I find interesting or easy to hear. I often pass lightly over sections that I find unappealing, technically complicated or difficult for me to hear. In the quote presented above, it is clear that this attitude is a bad idea.
Balance of two opposing ideas: So I guess this suggests that I need to balance these two opposing ideas:
- Being open to all authentic sources of the Buddhadharma, whether it be my preferred Tibetan Buddhism, or another Mahayana presentation of the Dharma such as Chinese or Japanese, or the Thai or Vietnamese Hinayana presentations. I should be more open to these other, authentic presentations of the Buddhadharma. By “authentic” I use this to disqualify Western forms of Buddhism where the Dharma has been edited / sullied.
- There are many pathways up the mountain, but to reach the top one must walk one pathway. From the Tibetan Buddhist point of view, this requires a reliance upon a qulified teacher who will guide me (the student) through the various stages of development, using their extensive scriptural understanding and knowledge based upon meditation experience.
Conclusion: While I have my focus for my own spiritual development, I should still be open to other presentations of the Buddhadharma.
Regrets of a new vegetarian
August 13, 2011
Having become a vegetarian for the reasons described in the article 3 personal reasons: Why I’ve become vegetarian, in this article I continue my misadventures in becoming a vegetarian.
Today I thought about how through being a meat eater, I have probably grazed my way through …
- Most of an adult cow
- A few lambs
- A handful of ducks
- Several pigs
- Hundreds of chickens
- Hundreds of fish
- Hundreds of prawns and shellfish
- Parts of a kangaroo, shark and snake
… and that’s just from eating meat. Nevermind wearing leather, being involved in the dairy industry, any feather down duvets or pillows, or any other personal choices I’ve made where animals have been killed along the way.
Forever forward:
- Path of Action: Like Geshe Baen Gung-gyael
- Path of Action: 3 personal reasons: Why I’ve become vegetarian
Integrating dharma with work
August 13, 2011
I might spend 40 hours at work on any given week. During the extended Lamrim retreat I considered how I can use this time to bring benefit to other sentient beings. Working in IT enables me to bring benefit to many people in some small, mundane way quite easily.
As with practising the 6 Perfections, bringing benefit to others is achieved only by having the proper intention. Without the intention then it really is just fiddling around with computers. With the proper intention then the activity transcends frustration with computers and becomes something far more significant on the spiritual path. With the right intention then the activity is a cause for enlightenment. If performed while considering the emptiness of the computer, the code, the client, and myself, then the activity becomes almost a perfection – the perfection of benefiting people with computers.
The only thing is that I don’t think I’ve had the proper intention for some time.
By having the intention of performing an action for the benefit of all cognizant beings, having the intention of it be a cause for enlightenment, then any activity becomes a cause for enlightenment. Offering a cup of coffee to the Buddhas and bodhisattvas of the 10 directions and 3 times, with the intention of it bringing benefit to all cognizant beings and a cause for enlightenment, the cup of coffee becomes those things. In this way the intention changes the cup of coffee from being a means for taking caffeine through the digestive system and into the bloodstream, and becomes a cause for enlightenment.
It’s logical and obvious, really. An complete action consists of: having the intention, performing the action, an celebrating once the action is complete. If you have the intention to give some money to help somebody, donate the money, and rejoice in having helped somebody through generosity, then that’s a complete action. The intention is the driving factor and determines the action performed, how it’s performed and the sort of celebration performed at the end. This is not to be confused with magic or idle wishing – wanting something to be so and wishing for it to be so. It’s more about aligning intention, action and celebration, in a way that it is aligned with enlightenment. Unfortunately, enlightenment doesn’t happen on it’s own, without causes and conditions. It takes lifetimes of concerted consideration and effort.
The trick is to consider proper intention, before setting about some activity. This is a reminder to myself: if I do this, then every cup of coffee that I drink brings benefit to myself and others and in this small way I make the most of this life.
Monky
August 13, 2011
After seeing the Magic Trip, I reach the question: why not become a monk? This sounds ridiculous given my recent flatmate-related activities and their effects. But even so, becoming a monky is very appealing to me, somebody described the robes of a Tibetan Buddhist monk as sexy.
Aye’s for becoming a monky:
- The main argument is that it is the Porsche of practice, accelerating progress along the path, focusing day and night entirely upon practice would be the most valuable way of using my life and bring benefit to other beings.
- Moments are slipping by and death is only one breath away. I feel like I’m letting my life slip by, live a comfortable life with no goals and will die having achieved nothing. I’m uninterested in the normal goals of house, wife, career and kids. Career is the only grey area, mainly because I work in IT and can use it to bring benefit to others.
No’s against becoming a monky:
- I’m unsure whether I can keep it in my pants for an extended period of time. I’ve managed it for 2-3 months and that was a big deal. Trying to maintain it for 20-30 years might be quite a different story altogether.
- I’m unsure whether I can commit to being a monk for the rest of my life, it seems too big, somehow. I don’t like making promises that I cannot keep, and I’m unsure whether I could keep the promise of ordination vows.
- The practical side of money and sustaining myself for an extended period of time without any income.
- Maybe become a monky, but not now. At the moment I’m 33, I have 17 more years of having the mental faculties and the energy to work and progress my career in my chosen field of expertise. Giving up a regular income is a big deal. This week I donated over USD $400 to various charities, money can bring about immediate benefit and relief to the situations that people are in.
I’m very much a baby steps sort of person. I could go live and work in a monastery for a year or I could still attend 1 year of the residential Basic Program course at either Nalanda Monastery in France or Chenrezig Institute in Australia, perhaps the year that the Lamrim is taught. It might be another 2 years until the subject is taught again, so it gives me a little time to build up to it and prepare myself, such as financial preparations for not working for 1 year. It’s certainly something to think about more.
