LONGCHENPA’S SONG OF THE ENCHANTING WILDWOODS
A profound praise of Mother Nature and the benefits of facing the mind in solitude, by Longchenpa – the mystic poet of Tibet.
A profound praise of Mother Nature and the benefits of facing the mind in solitude, by Longchenpa – the mystic poet of Tibet.
This year, I find myself away from home on Christmas Eve for the first time. It’s not as if I’ll be missing out on much. Things will play out as they always have. In the morning, my dad and three sisters will walk our new puppy to go get coffee. Last year, we walked our other dog, Charger, but he died in April.
Do not say anything, do not ask anything. Just be. Words lose its meaning when uttered to express inner most pure experience. Transmission and blessings takes place from mind to mind. With arms wide open accept teachings as they come respect, love and learn. There is nothing material that leaves here, no self is transferred from one place to another.
I took the Red Elm tree as medicine, the inner dried bark of which is used as a remedy for a number of ailments for thousands of years by the north American natives and is in use in Traditional Chinese Medicine. From years of agonizing pain an unable to walk more than 20 meters, 95% of my pain is now gone.
The war in Syria is not Syria’s problem. It is everyone’s problem. Fear, hatred and greed collude to create wars; to pretend as if those same shadows don’t loiter within my own heart and mind is to do a gross injustice to those who suffer on their account.
Trust is one of the basic qualities or life skills we need to learn and embody if we want to shift from living a life based on defense mechanisms and survival strategies to an open and authentic way of being and relating. We need trust to open up and surrender to a broader life perspective, to say Yes to moment-to-moment fresh experiencing of life as it is.
Slow down, it’s an old room
Mind your breath as you pass by
Else, intense dust may hide in air
And you may never know how long it has been!
I currently live in Boudha, a town on the edge of the Kathmandu Valley. It’s small, dusty and cramped, with dozens of monasteries wedged between… Read More »FLESHY TERRITORY
This is a time for skillful and effective action, informed by meditation practice, inspired by compassion. With the rise of the far right movements emphasizing racism, misogyny, bigotry, xenophobia, and more, for me, sitting on the cushion, though always vital, is no longer enough.
During five weeks in Nepal, mindfulness teacher Rikke Braren Lauritzen tested the waters at a traditional nunnery and discovered that it is possible to fuse a spiritual path which draws on both the old wisdom of the Buddha’s teachings and the modern scientific-based interventions used in the Mindful School program, to support the new generation of young monastics living in the 21st Century.
Presenting Hsuan-Hsia Hung, in a performance fusion of dance and poetic insights. Her dancing is healing, strength, grace, energy, spiritual depth and creativity.
Every disagreement – even the tiniest quibble about how to correctly squeeze a tube of toothpaste – is a display of contradictory perspectives that, by definition, cannot co-exist in the very dimension in which they collide.
On behalf of the indigenous people at Standing Rock, a member of the Yaqui tribe in the Southwestern part of United States has yesterday requested help to pacify the situation in North Dakota. In full regalia he made his prayer for a peaceful solution before the Buddhist master and benevolent sorcerer Chokling Rinpoche, and a group of 5000 people from all over the world.
Determined that none who are born shall linger in the bonds of suffering,
He is the protector of all children and carries a child in the crook of his right arm.
He is the compassion of the Buddha,
Inseparable from every form of life,
The final liberator of all who suffer all the tortures of hell.
Enjoy Yeshen’s music and poetry. Here is an opportunity to rap along – from your heart straight to Padmasambhava’s.
We know if we work hard enough, life will eventually come to blossoming fruition. But lately I’m realizing that is just not true. Or at least it is only half the story. The other half of the story is dissolution: the way things fall apart.
According to Tibetan Buddhists, when a great master reincarnates, though he still retains the level of realization he attained in his previous life, he needs to go through the process of remembering it through formal instruction in this life so as better at teaching others.
Losing it with deception, clouding my own false perception, believing my self-created occupation, Lost myself!! and I still don’t have a reason.
Authenticity gives you courage. It comes from an honest place where there is no fear, only truth. It is this core focus that brings contentment sensations, a genuine sense of peace! You no longer feel fear or envy – You have the courage to make the right decisions. You become truly happy for those who are around you, because you know you are living life as authentically as possible. You are being real!
When the self is seen to have no placement, no identity, and no enduring quality at all, the mind is sometimes elevated to Mind, and the error of a greater Self can occur. But if the self has no true reality, how can it be a place or thing from which, and in which thoughts, perceptions, and feelings occur?
Can a seed ever be sad When it’s been blown off far into the desert I think not Because it remembers The mighty woods it… Read More »THOUSAND YEAR OLD OAK TREES