July, 2011 | Tibetan Buddhist Altar

Astrology

July 16, 2011 by Norma

In a burst of good natured enthusiasm someone can overdo, overspend, and overemote. If this person is you, feel chagrin and move on. As the day progresses a customer or someone from outside your usual circle moves closer to you. This is a good relationship, one to be nurtured. Your energy is still scattered, it’s all over the place. Finding your focus is the most challenging task of the day. Interruptions occur, and friends keep showing up wanting your attention. If someone speaks, listen attentively. That person’s pride is riding on how you receive their communication. But definitely keep your attention on your own agenda. Carl Jung said “Your vision will become clear only when you can look into your own heart. Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakens.”

The daily astrology post affects everyone. Because individual charts vary, the circumstances outlined in the post will affect people differently. Some will feel this energy in the personal arena, some in finances, some with children or family, some in work and so forth. There are many departments of life. Look to see where the dynamic affects you!

Astrology

July 15, 2011 by Norma

A separation may occur, or else you see the world through someone else’s eyes and it looks totally different. Pay attention to the perspective you gain today, and don’t forget what you have learned. You may need to assume authority or take over someone else’s job temporarily, and you’d rather not. Do it gracefully. You’ll need help someday. A group may take away a reward you thought you deserved. Don’t worry, you will get it later. Men are especially gracious and charming today, and a man can give you the support you’ve needed. You are especially productive on the job today. Whatever you have to do will be well done. Plus your mind is extremely sharp and you continue to learn. Anything you are studying goes in quickly and stays forever. Make important contacts, have important conversations. Big deals can be struck today and you and someone else can have a significant exchange that clears up matters. Be brave. Andre Gide said “One does not discover new continents without consenting to lose sight of the shore for a very long time.”

Astrology

July 14, 2011 by Norma

Home is where the heart is today and the outer world seems unsupportive. Something has made you want to go back to the security of your home and the dreams of your childhood. Take a trip down memory lane. Look through keepsakes, reminisce about the past. It will please you and give you comfort in the world. Authority figures wish they’d stayed in bed. The malaise is emotional, not mental. Your mind is quick and sharp. Use it. Driving around stimulates your thinking, and walking, running or exercising has the same effect. Speak with neighbors or siblings and you’ll feel great. This is an excellent time for writers of all kinds and for students. Partners are struggling to find common ground. Work on the relationships in your life. The good ones will be strengthened, and some will come apart. Whatever the outcomes, be kind. Henry David Thoreau said “So behave that the odor of your actions may enhance the general sweetness of the atmosphere.”

Astrology

July 13, 2011 by Norma

You could need to be a public person today. Stand up straight, speak your piece, and behave with dignity. It’s a serious occasion: dress for the part. Something has made you thoughtful and perhaps a bit obsessive about what you want to accomplish. At the same time you’re attempting to surround yourself with your people, whoever they may be. The need for security is very pronounced now, and it’s a good time to evaluate who is in your corner. Mental quickness is in the air, and you surprise yourself by being smart as a whip. If somebody’s got a question, you have the answer! Your mind is very bright and luminous, and your words are inspiring. People will remember what you say today for years to come, so make sure it’s good. A hurt is possible, or a broken heart. A loving gesture can be ignored or rebuffed. If it’s you, give the person another chance. If you have rebuffed someone, go back and make it right. Estelle Frederickson said “The glue of life and work is loving support.”

Astrology

July 12, 2011 by Norma

Emotion travels harmoniously with intelligence today. You could hear exactly the right thing to explain matters to you. Stay in close communication with people who are important to you. A significant message comes to you, pay attention! Your ability can be recognized, your worth can be validated today. At the exact same time, someone is looking for validation of an emotional sort. This is more difficult to give, for complex reasons. You could feel irritated with someone’s persistent demands for your attention. Be very careful, this person needs help and isn’t sure how to ask for it. Emotional issues need to be resolved, but you’d rather not deal with this area. Remember times that you’ve needed reassurance, and give it. If someone answers you sharply, perhaps you are the needy one. Johnna Howell said “There is a place for everyone in the big picture. To turn your back on any one person… is to run the risk of losing the central piece of your jigsaw puzzle.”

Where Does Desire Come From?

July 11, 2011 by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo

Excerpt from a teaching by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo from the Vow of Love series

Where does desire come from? It comes from the belief that self-nature is real. According to the Buddha, if you believe that you are a self, if you believe in self-nature as being real, as being truly existent, then there has to be desire, because in order to be a self or to have a self, you have to define a self. That’s how it is. If you believe in the nature of self, you have to have an underlying belief that self ends here and other begins there. You have to have some conceptualization in your mind about what the self is, because the idea of self cannot exist without some definition. Conceptual proliferation develops, and with that, desire.

Desires are not always fulfilled. There is always the contest between self and other, and from those contests the three root poisons of hatred, greed and ignorance occur. It is the presence of hatred, greed and ignorance in the mind that causes phenomena to appear as they do. If there were no hatred, greed and ignorance in the mind, there would be no cause for suffering and therefore we would not see the phenomena of war, hunger, old age, sickness and death in the world. There would be no cause. This is the understanding and commitment that you should think about and work with in your mind.

Astrology

July 11, 2011 by Norma

A message from afar puts you into action. Get moving! If you act, if you do something, it works out well. If you spend time grieving and being upset about anything, you will be ineffective. Don’t allow confusion to dissipate your power or your productivity. This is an excellent time to initiate something. You are motivated! Consider going back to school or getting an advanced degree. It’s not a good time to look for love or reassurance.Your partner or love object is working too hard to give you what you need. For reassurance, think of the encouragement you’ve received from mentors. Remember their evaluation of your abilities and their assessment of your character. Use this information to inspire yourself. Your partner needs your understanding now. Thoreau said “Could a greater miracle take place than for us to look through each other’s eyes for an instant?”

Love That Sustains

July 10, 2011 by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo

Excerpt from a teaching by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo from the Vow of Love series

How can you develop the kind of love that sustains itself? How can you cultivate compassion like a fire that never runs out of wood to burn? That never goes out. The fire of compassion is based on being courageous enough to come to an understanding of suffering. You have to come to a deep understanding that all sentient beings are suffering endlessly and helplessly, and bring yourself to the point where you can’t bear it. Cultivate the understanding that even though you know you can’t see all sentient beings, you can’t feel them, you can’t touch them, still, you want nothing more than to rid hatred, greed and ignorance from their minds, because you understand this is the cause of their suffering. You understand the whole dynamics of suffering: why it exists, how it exists, where it exists, how it grows, and at that point you become deeply committed.

You can begin by renouncing the causes of suffering yourself. If you have not renounced the causes of suffering, you can’t do a thing for anyone else, and so it takes a tremendous amount of courage. According to the Buddha, hatred, greed and ignorance in the mind are the causes of suffering. Hatred, greed and ignorance are preceded by desire. If there is no desire in the mind, there is no root from which these poisons can grow; there is no cause for hatred, greed and ignorance.

Astrology

July 10, 2011 by Norma

Harmony today. Everyone gets along, and it’s a great day to build or do home improvements. Your thinking is expansive, and communication with young people or athletes is excellent. Teachers are especially impressive. If you care for someone, now is the time to speak your piece. Remembrance of things past plays a role in this day. If you wish to memorialize someone who has meant a great deal to you, this is the day to do so. It’s a bit of a scattered day, with energy going in all directions. You’re personally inventive, financially robust, verbally aggressive, domestically stable, romantically ardent, attentive to your partnership, willing to support others, respectful of authority, and alert to the sufferings of others. Whew! Dell says “The real secret of patience is to find something else to do in the meantime.” You have succeeded…there’s plenty to do.

Motivation That Nourishes the Path

July 9, 2011 by Holly

Excerpt from a teaching by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo from the Vow of Love series

It’s almost impossible to attain the goal of selfless compassion, where you commit every fiber of your being to benefiting all sentient beings, seen and unseen, without a moment’s hesitation. It’s almost impossible to develop the kind of compassion where you understand that all sentient beings are revolving helplessly in such suffering that they can’t bear it, and you can’t bear to think it’s going on, without cultivating a deep understanding of suffering. You want to avoid the trap of making the very same prayers that the selfishly motivated person might do, but instead have the idea that you want to be a great Bodhisattva.

One goal will produce lasting results and the other will not. The person with the motivation of selflessness has the key. Through extraordinary, selfless compassion, that person has the strength to persevere through everything until he or she is awake. That person will persevere until he or she has completely purged from his or her mind even the smallest, gossamer thin seeds of hatred, greed and ignorance. The person whose motivation is to be the ‘good person’ will not be able to do the same for any length of time. The foundation isn’t strong enough. That person may need some kind of feedback, or warm fuzzies as reward for being good. Even tried and true Buddhists will find this impure motivation in your minds. Even our ordained Sangha will find that they, themselves, will have dry periods. You’ll go spiritually dry, bone dry, and you’ll think, “What am I doing here? I can’t go on; it’s just too hard.” Then the next day, you’ll wake up and you’ll think, “Another day…good.” You’ll have all these different feelings that are just so common. Everybody, everybody has them. You don’t have to be a Buddhist to have these feelings.

Why does it flip flop back and forth? Because you have not built the firm foundation of very pure, selfless compassion. You need to cultivate it every single moment. You need to get yourself past the point where you need warm fuzzies to keep you going. If you are only looking at the symptom of suffering and trying to manipulate your environment to turn suffering around, you will always need feedback. That feedback may or may not come. Your compassion, your love should not depend on that.