February, 2016 | Tibetan Buddhist Altar

Nourished by Compassion

February 24, 2016 by Holly

A Vow of Love:

Living an extraordinary life

of Compassion

By Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo

Why Compassion?

I would like to talk about a subject that is of the utmost importance to everyone. The subject is compassion.

You may think, “Oh, I know all about compassion. I’ve been a Dharma practitioner for a long time. I’ve had many teachings about compassion.” Or you might think, “I’m a person with a good heart. I try not to do any harm, and I try to help people. Therefore, I know about compassion.” If we hold these ideas in our heart, we have already lost precious opportunities, and will continue to lose more, because the cultivation of compassion in the heart and mind is an ongoing process.

Even if you come into this world with a compassionate ideal you must still cultivate the idea of compassion as though it were the first time you ever thought of it. Due to intense spiritual practice in the past, you may have been born into this lifetime with the idea that you want to be of benefit to sentient beings. Yet still you must cultivate the idea of compassion everyday, as though it were a delicate orchid that could die in an unnatural environment. Until we are supremely enlightened, we have obscurations of our mind that will fight against the idea of compassion.

There is no one on this earth, unless they are supremely realized, who has the purified mind of compassion. If you have been meditating for many years, and think compassion is a baby subject and you’re far beyond that, or if you think because you’ve practiced for a long time, compassion is just one of the beginner studies, and now you’d like to get on to the mystical or the “higher” Dzogchen teachings, then I think you’re making a mistake. I hope that you will relax your mind and come to the point where you commit to studying compassion deeply and profoundly, as though it were your mother. You should have that kind of intimate relationship with the idea of compassion. You should seek to be taught by it. You should seek to be suckled by the mind of compassion. You should seek to be nourished in that way.

Astrology for 2/24/2016

February 24, 2016 by Norma

2/24/2016 Wednesday by Norma

If you’re still feeling a little picked on and want to escape, the Pisces sun is doing his job of ratcheting up sensitivity to the nail biting level. Voltaire said, “The longer we dwell on our misfortunes, the greater is their power to harm us.” Continue to direct your sensitivity outward rather than inward, and you just might be the person who saves a desperate person, finds a cure for a terrible disease, or creates brilliant art, music or poetry. Spend time near water and look for inspiration in the world around you. Friends are good-hearted and generous with information that solves a problem.
Listen to everything and develop your intuitive ability.

The astrology post affects everyone differently, depending on individual horoscopes. Look to see which area of your life is affected by this message.

Astrology for 2/23/2016

February 23, 2016 by Norma

2/23/2016 Tuesday by Norma

Working hard, tending to details and doing your best to help others is highlighted today. News from afar is upsetting, but you can’t do anything about the situation so set it aside. A policy decision or command from on high is excellent and favorably impacts your interests. A Monopoly card says “Bank error in your favor, collect $200,” and you can! Avoid the tendency to feel victimized or sabotage yourself by sleeping through an important meeting, insulting a benefactor or generally focusing on what’s wrong. If you begin a statement with the words, “I’m upset by how this affects me,” back off and don’t say it. Friends are wonderful, groups are great and work is surprisingly fun today.

The astrology post affects everyone differently, depending on individual horoscopes. Look to see how this message affects your life!

The Wedding Cake: Stages of the Path

February 22, 2016 by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo

The following is from a series of tweets by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo:

Yesterday a new student asked the following question, “What is the difference between Mahayana and Vajrayana?” She had studied for six years from books. This question can take years to answer! So I apologize for giving the quick cereal box top version.

There are three main levels of Lord Buddha’s teachings. They can be thought of as a “wedding cake” shape, if you will.

The first Level was the first teaching, Theravadin. It is based square on the Vinaya structure, relates to purity and no-harm. It is the basis for all further turning of the “Wheel of Dharma.”

The next layer of the cake would be Mahayana, or “Great Vehicle” and is associated with the Bodhisattva vow, along with refuge in the Three Jewels, Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha. Now, in the Vinaya, to purify, one gender must not touch opposite sex, handle money, has many laws. In Mahayana, the same laws apply but are modified by the Bodhisattva vow. In that vow one cultivates Bodhicitta, compassion. So a monk could theoretically touch a woman to give aid, medicine, food, comfort, support. And as Bodhisattvas in training, vow to liberate and care for all sentient beings. Through ordinary and ultimate kindness. In Mahayana we dedicate all our merit, practice, efforts to all beings, thinking of them as our own kind mothers in all lives. And we help all we can.

Vajrayana is like the top level if the wedding cake. It is a very profound and mystical level. And within that there are preliminary, generation stage, and lastly completion stage practice. Preliminary is Ngundro, generation is of the three Roots of practice: Lama, yidam, and khandro with protectors. The completion stages are Tsa-lung, Togyal and Trek Chod. These are the practices that can deliver Liberation in one lifetime.

Now here is the thing. These wedding cake layers cannot be separated, or the whole thing falls down. Theravadin, Mahayana and Vajrayana are totally and completely inseparable. If not the case, there is no stability in the practice. One sustains the other and is it’s very foundation! It’s support. So the Vinaya supports and gives rise to, through purification, the Mahayana Bodhisattva level, with additional vows. The top layer is totally depending on the other layers and they cannot be separated. Vajrayana requires the practice of giving rise to Bodhicitta because the yidams, the Three Roots, are the very display of Bodhicitta in the world! They are not ordinary and come from the play, the dance of the Buddha nature in phenomena. Each and every yidam or meditational deity is not separate from Bodhicitta, never could be, or it could not be a display of the Buddha.

We must learn to accept the feast of the whole cake as it is. We cannot pick the easy part, the one we like best to feel smart. We cannot change the cake. We can change the flavor, the color, to suit our culture, but not the layer cake!

And what is at the top? The union, Yab/Yum. Wisdom and compassion; emptiness and method. Or empty primordial nature couples with display/samaya in that union, we are liberated! EH MA HO!

OM AH HUNG BENZAR GURU PEDMA SIDDHI HUNG!

Astrology for 2/22/2016

February 22, 2016 by Norma

2/22/2016 Monday by Norma

You are hyper-aware of suffering, your own and that of others. It’s all about focus today: think of your own problems- health, finances, love, etc- and they expand, focus elsewhere and watch your troubles melt away. Work for the benefit of others and when you’re done you’ll find that your problems
are solved. Anonymous said, “The best way to stop worrying about your body is to get interested in somebody else’s.” What’s good today? Friends, groups, improvement in health concerns and creative thinking. Listen to music, visualize your best possible future and help others for best results today.

The astrology post affects everyone differently, depending on individual horoscopes. Look to see how this message affects your life!

Compassion in Action: Bodhicitta in Real Life

February 21, 2016 by Holly

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

Everything that you do should have meaning. It’s important that your life be understood as a vehicle for practice. It’s the only thing that is meaningful: to make this life, which is so rich in opportunity, a vehicle by which you can come to benefit beings. This is the development of aspirational Bodhicitta. Every time you do something good, use that opportunity to dedicate it to the liberation of all beings. If you pat a little child on the head and it makes them smile, that’s a good thing. So you must think, “I dedicate the virtue of this action to the liberation and salvation of all sentient beings.” If you give money to somebody, pray, “I dedicate the virtue of this act to the liberation and salvation of all sentient beings.” You should continue like that in everything that you do. Make up your own prayer. You don’t have to use mine. Dedicate everything that you do so that it might go on, and grow, and be of use to benefit beings. Wean yourself from empty activity, activity that is useless and meaningless. Wean yourself from the need for ‘feel-good’ junk. Learn how to live a life in which your only concern is to liberate beings from the causes of suffering, because doing this is the only thing you can really feel good about. You aspire constantly through these prayers. You really train yourself to do this, and it should never stop.

After you are stable on the path of aspirational compassion, you have to think about concrete or practical compassion. You don’t forget aspirational compassion, saying, “Oh, I did that for a little while when I was a younger practitioner.” You should never stop. Never. I will never stop, and you should never stop. That’s not baby stuff. That’s the real stuff. Then you expand this to include practical compassion.

First you have to decide that the Buddha was right. You look at the Buddha’s teachings and you say, “If he’s right, then I have to think of some practical way to eliminate hatred, greed and ignorance from the world and from the mindstreams of myself and all sentient beings.”

Based on that you begin, and your practice should be deep and true. If you choose to be a Buddhist, the path is laid out, and the path is secure. It goes all the way to supreme realization. If you choose not to be a Buddhist, you still have to find a way to live a life of practical compassion, based on the goal of rooting hatred, greed and ignorance out of the mindstreams of yourself and all sentient beings. You should think that reciting many prayers on a regular basis for others could be of use. You should think activities that cause you to realize the emptiness of self-nature and therefore eliminate desire from your own mindstream would be of benefit. And that, finally, free of desire, when you are truly awake, as the Buddha said, you can go on to benefit others. You should be determined to liberate your own mind, and you should pray every day that you will return in whatever form necessary in order to liberate the minds of all sentient beings.

Astrology for 2/21/2016

February 21, 2016 by Norma

2/21/2016 Sunday by Norma

Electric friendships and magnetic people provide enthusiasm and fun today. A grand trine in fire signs generates confidence, joy and the urge get going! A tired person perks up when an activity is planned. If it seems you’re getting mixed emotional signals, you are, and it’s best to stick with a planned agenda once you set out. A Zen proverb says, “When you reach the top, keep climbing.” Pay special attention to beauty in nature- the clouds, mountains, trees and all forms of visual inspiration. You’ll see something that you can bring home and plug into your life in a meaningful way. Work and health are continually improving.

The astrology post affects everyone differently, depending on individual horoscopes. Look to see how this message affects your life!

Astrology for 2/20/2016

February 20, 2016 by Norma

2/20/2016 Saturday by Norma

Someone must be tended to; drop what you are doing and take care of this person. Offer medicine to a sick person, comfort to a fearful person and company to a lonely person. Set your own wishes aside today in favor of the need you see, even if it’s only the need to watch tv all day with company. It’s important to dress your best and to look absolutely wonderful as you do this. Your appearance can say “You matter to me,” in a way mere words can’t. Today you’ll bounce back and forth between what you want and what someone else wants. Anonymous said, “You need to go along to get along.” Keep reading and learning as the day progresses. Spend time with friends in the evening, you’ll be glad you did!

The astrology post affects everyone differently, depending on individual horoscopes. Look to see how this message affects your life!

Astrology for 2/19/2016

February 19, 2016 by Norma

2/19/2016 Friday by Norma

People must be tended to, particularly if they express worry or health symptoms. Drop what you’re doing, fuss over someone and offer comfort. Take seriously and listen carefully to someone who feels guilty: listen to confessions with compassion and watch the other person relax. Do not blame even a guilty party. A German proverb says, “Charity sees the need, not the cause.” Elsewhere, friends are wonderful, study and learning is satisfying, and behind-the-scenes matters are working in your favor. Mining, wells, underground systems of all sorts are successful, and investments do surprisingly well.

The astrology post affects everyone differently, depending on individual horoscopes. Look to see how this message affects your life!

It’s About Them…

February 18, 2016 by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo

The following is an excerpt from a teaching by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo called “Your Treasure is Heart”

So where do you start? Exactly where you are. Remember that different people have different experiences. If you’re not sure about that, ask other people. No one knows what another person’s experience has actually been. No one knows how karmic patterns develop into the tapestry that they become. As people engage on the path of the Bodhisattva, each and every one will look a little different. It’s not for you to judge. It’s only for you to begin.

When some people begin to engage in the Bodhisattva meditations, although they’re saying, “I dedicate myself to the liberation and salvation of all sentient beings,” they’re thinking, “I don’t feel like it today. I’m not happy about it, but I know it’s the right thing to do. So I’ll work on it” Another person will say, without thinking about it at all, “Oh, yes, right now I dedicate myself to the liberation and salvation of all sentient beings!!!!” Both are equally ridiculous! Why make a judgment about either one? You can see that’s just the first step. So whatever it looks like, let it be that.

Eventually in maturity there is not so much concern for appearances, not so much concern for how it should be. There is mostly concern for others. Now there’s a new trick. Rather than being concerned about appearances, we are mostly concerned for others. When we were judging ourselves and others for not looking perfect as a Bodhisattva, that’s the part we left out, wasn’t it? It isn’t about how we look. It’s about them. It’s about others.