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LEVEKUNST · art of life magazine

VULNERABILITY – THE CLOAK OF A SPIRITUAL WARRIOR

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Vulnerability is the shield of a warrior. It is about spaciousness, openness of heart and mind. Nothing can cut you, touch you, burn you, drown you, dissolve you because now your love is enormous, with no beginning and no end.

FUNDAMENTALISM IS NOT PEOPLE, IT’S AN ATTITUDE

There is no copyright on the tendency to be close-minded, shutting off reason and empathy. It can unfold within the mind of anyone.
The resulting arrogance, and the aggressive and abusive behavior that the fundamentalist attitude breeds, can be changed by opening our hearts with kindness and freeing our minds through insight.

WHY DON’T WE WORK HARDER TO GET BIG MONEY OUT OF POLITICS?

This election has caused me to spend time deeply reflecting on my own life choices and beliefs, and a deep question has been continually weighing on my mind: Why don’t more loving, intelligent people work harder to eliminate Big Money’s negative influence on almost every sphere of human activity?

WHY THE COW

I hold all life sacred. From Mother Earth and her life-giving bounty, to all creatures great and small. However cows, like dogs, have had a symbiotic relationship with mankind as long as both have been in contact with each other. After all, dogs are known as mans best friend and for good reason. Yet cows hold a special place alongside humanity.

ARE WE REALLY SEPARATE FROM EACH OTHER – A PERSPECTIVE

Are we really separate from each other? Let us examine this issue. In order to prove that two things are separate two steps will have to be followed. 1. To know and recognize the things in question. 2. To compare the outer and inner qualities of the gross body, its origin and dissolution, quantity, shape, functioning of various outer and inner parts.

BE LIKE A LIGHTHOUSE

As practitioners of a spiritual practice, we have to be like a lighthouse. We just shine the great bright light of our true identity out into the world so that others can see their own inner light. A lighthouse doesn’t judge, label, or distinguish; it just shines out its light.

BATTLE VISIONS

It is said that Gesar of Ling has a peculiar effect on some people, letting beautiful literature pour out almost effortlessly and spontaneously. Douglas J. Penick is one of the inspired poets in whose creative mind, the episodes from the fabulous life of King Gesar unfold. Here is part one from The Brilliance of Naked Mind: Secret Visions of Gesar, King of Ling.

GIFTS FROM SACRED SMOKE

“How real are the deities? Well… How real is your suffering?” This deserves to be contemplated. Until we realize the emptiness of all experience, appearances, and phenomena, whether they be positive or negative, we have to play by their rules, the rules of the conventional world.

CHRYSALIS

When the mind wanders or wavers, reconfigure awareness in the body, sensing inwards, looking outwards. When thought holds sway, if you can’t break free or let go, step back, loosen up, shake it out, however you frame it, be physical, get up and move.

THE DECISIVE EXPERIENCE OF NOW

Part Five of REALITY AND EXISTENCE. Having the habit of sitting for long periods, abiding, with hardly a thought, as the luminous naturing of Dharmata—the reverberations, arising as sounds and colored light, of the naturing of all appearances—I was amazed one day when something unusual happened.

GOD LIVES HERE

A brotherhood of gulls rises from the shore, pushing off from the wet sand; their footprint hieroglyphs tell me everything, then not, as a sliding pool of clear seawater gently washes over them, dissolving their messages. They travel east on the last of the breeze, just above the breaking waves, paralleling the shoreline, silhouetting themselves against the last glimmers of sun.

PAUSE, BREATHE AND OPEN YOUR HEART

We get so caught up in the little dramas going on in our lives and in our minds; that we take them to be true and real. But if we stop for a moment and look up into the sky, be it day or night and let that vision touch us in that secret, silent place beyond thoughts and words, something can happen.

SUBLIME SOURCE OF GRACE

The background for Tara practice in the Triple Excellence program, written down from the words of recent masters in the Tara lineage and original sources. It is important to know the source to fully trust that the teaching is authentic so one can practice with deeper confidence.

CONSCIOUS AWARENESS

I don’t experience myself as a consciousness residing within a body, or a body residing within a world. I’ve thought about it, and I recognize that that I experience it the other way around – world and self and bodily experience arise within my conscious awareness.

THE INVISIBLE STRINGS OF KARMA

Every single moment this stream of being is bombarded with uncountable impressions through the senses, through memories and the echoes of present thoughts. Is it personal? Yes, it is. Is it created by the present you? No it isn’t. Is it created by someone else? Absolutely not.

STAINLESS VAJRA MASTER

Your love sweetens us. Your compassion soothes us. Your wisdom lends itself to our own minds, uplifting what we know is good and true and beautiful. Mighty warrior who freely uses every moment as the greatest weapon, please bless all well-intentioned aspirations to freshly blossom without end.

THE BLOOMING FLOWER

Our spiritual practice is like a blooming flower. Often as practitioners we want to quickly have spiritual experiences because we think that that is the real key to it all. But if we have this kind of attitude when we practice, we are in a hurry. And by being in a hurry, we can miss the whole point.