Astrology for 2/13/2016

2/13/2016 Saturday by Norma

A serious matter appears early on, but things change and the concern becomes irrelevant. Therefore, don’t act on news early today- wait until the matter clarifies and stability prevails. Driving, flying, or time on the computer is well spent. An interesting invention changes thinking and machines are important. Following space travel or science? Excellent progress! Rational thinking replaces conjecture today. Malcolm X said, “The subject I most disliked was mathematics…mathematics leaves no room for argument. If you make a mistake, that was all there was to it.” What’s good today? Science,
inventiveness, thoughtful spending and steady improvement in health. Work is fun too.

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

How to Pacify Hatred, Anger and Attachment

The following is from a twitter conversation between Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo and one of her followers:

Questioner to Jetsunma: That’s very true. I have to work hard not to hate. It hurts the hater most of all.

Jetsunma: Here is a method to pacify hatred and too much attachment, which are often combined. This sounds gross but it works!

Okay, let’s find out about this person. First, imagine the eyeballs hanging on a branch. Head sliced thin. One arm near your feet the other about a mile away. Torso also sliced thin. Imagine legs dumped in ocean. Now, where is the one you hate or love? Are they in the hanging eyeballs? The arms here and there? The floating legs? The slices? Where is the person? The mind? What do you hate/love? Can you find them? This will loosen the attachment that causes the emotion by recognizing it’s all just phenomena and fundamentally void. Keep doing it until you feel better and see how odd it all is. You cannot harm the other person or yourself unless the motivation is malevolent. You are trying to learn and heal. That is an ethical and useful method, then dedicate the merit to the healing of you both, and the end of all hate and war.

Best wishes, sending Prayers.

OM MANI PEDME HUNG! OM TARE TUTTARE TURE SO HA! Peace.

Questioner: That’s a great method! Also reminds that all is fleeting except for eternity itself? Thanks I will remember.

Copyright © Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo.  All rights reserved

Astrology for 2/12/2016

2/12/2016 Friday by Norma

Activity in the service of a larger goal is excellent, provided you don’t cross authority figures. You’ll know it’s happened when somebody corrects you. Do not defend yourself, rather ask what you can do better or differently. It’s a day to tiptoe through things, to be disciplined but stay motivated. Losing enthusiasm is the true danger right now: do everything in your power to stay motivated. Robert Schuller said, “What would you attempt to do if you knew you would not fail?” Try that! It’s a good day to discuss goals with supportive people and to plan for the future. If you spend time with children, don’t set too many restrictions, keep them safe but let them play! Don’t be too strict if you’re in a position of authority.

The astrology post affects everyone differently, depending on individual horoscopes. Look to see where this message affects you!

I am Awake

665088713_krXkb-S

An excerpt from a teaching by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo called “How Buddhists Think”

When the Buddha was asked what kind of being he was, he described himself neither as a god nor as someone who has attained godhood, but simply as “awake.”  He was awake to the primordial Wisdom Nature, which is free from the delusion of fixation, from the process of separation, from distinction between subject and object.  In him, that process had been pacified: the Buddha was awake to the Nature.

In our Judeo-Christian culture, however, there is an underlying assumption of an external deity toward whom we move.  We were brought up with the idea that we should do good things in order to end up in The Good Place, as if there were an external being chalking up marks in a big book.  We think of the goal as “out there somewhere,” and we believe we need to move towards it.  It’s a subconscious thing: even after hearing the Buddha’s teachings, we still walk away trying to be good little boys and girls, looking to see who is watching.

We tend to think of ourselves as solid and real, and as needing to become something more.  We have it in our minds that we should be advanced beings, great beings.  I know this from personal experience:  when students first come to me, they often say or imply: “You’re supposed to be so wise.  Look into me.  Am I an advanced being?  Am I close to spiritual mastery?”

According to the Buddha’s teaching, such questions are a waste of time.  Mastery and failure––like chocolate and pea soup, running and stopping––are merely phenomena.  They have no bearing on the truth, which is your Nature.  And you don’t need me to answer these questions.  You can answer them yourself.  How fixated are you on the continuum?  On continuing of your continuum?  How fixated are you on the solidity of your own form? How much of your time do you spend reinforcing and decorating the superstructure of your ego?

It is safe to say that most people spend all their time fixated on and continuing the continuum.  All aspects of our everyday lives––families, jobs, personal time, relationships––reinforce the continuum.  And this results from our belief that self-nature is inherently real.

Copyright ©  Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo.  All rights reserved

Astrology for 2/11/2016

2/11/2016 Thursday by Norma

Energy! You’ve got it, and so does everyone else. Fly out of bed and take action on what’s in front of you. The Aries moon rewards those who “do something” about life, rather than thinking about life, and the more energetic you are the better you feel. Who are those brave souls out discovering new continents or flying into outer space? Aries, that’s who, the hard-chargers of the zodiac! Initiate a new project, exercise, discover something new. Stay home doing nothing and you won’t be happy. Martin Luther said, “Even if I knew that tomorrow the world would go to pieces, I would still plant my apple tree.” Go get ’em! It’s also a good day to spend time with friends, engage in business and improve your health.

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

The Beginning of Awakening

An excerpt from the Mindfulness workshop given by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo in 1999

One of the practices that we are taught as Buddhists is that always, always, Guru Rinpoche should be above the crown of our heads.  We should be mindful that Guru Rinpoche is always there, seated on his lotus throne.  Upon going to sleep, we should visualize that Guru Rinpoche becomes like light or liquid and then pours into the top chakra and through the central channel, and remains in the heart throughout the night.  We fall asleep with Guru Rinpoche in the heart.  This kind of mindfulness is the best part of practice.  No matter what else I do, even if I don’t sit down and practice formally, I practice like that all the time.  That’s the backbone that I rely on.

When I talk to any of my students, the way that I practice View is that, as a Lama, I consider that the students are higher than me.  (You should never do that!  But I can do that.)  I consider that the students are higher than me because there are many of them and I am only one and our nature is the same.  It’s a little bit like the posture of Jesus washing the feet of the disciples. There is an element of sacrifice, there is an element of viewing the propagation of Dharma and the display of Bodhicitta to be all there is, the highest.  There is nothing else higher.  So I practice in such a way that the students are higher.  I hold them in high regard.  They are more precious to me than the other stuff that I do. I hold the students much higher than I hold myself.

It is the student’s job to practice that discrimination constantly.  One thing that we should do is consider that every event, every moment, every hour, every day, every breath has as its core nature Guru Rinpoche, the blessing of Guru Rinpoche, the appearance of Guru Rinpoche.  How does one practice that?  It is the kind of thing that you have to grow into.  You can’t just think all of a sudden, “Well, I’m never going to think about anything else.  I’m just going to think about Guru Rinpoche from now on, and therefore that’ll be real easy.  He’ll just always be on my mind.” That would make you crazy, wouldn’t it?  Trying to force that little monkey in a cage to do what you want? You don’t have to do it that way.

We start by creating habitual patterns that include body, speech and mind.  We want to include these three elements.  One way to practice this kind of mindfulness is to have an altar in your home.  If you don’t have an altar in your bedroom, perhaps you can have a picture by your bedside of Guru Rinpoche or your Root Teacher, maybe both. That’s a good visualization. Then, when you first wake up in the morning, the first thing you do — even before you go to the bathroom, even before the coffee — the first thing you do is look at that picture and reorient yourself: that this day the Guru is above the crown of my head.  This hour, this day, right now, the Guru is above the crown of my head and you make three prostrations.  You have it in your mind that this day is therefore sacred and then you dedicate the sacredness of this day to the liberation and salvation of all sentient beings. No one can take that away from you no matter what happens during the day.  If you get hit by a car and both your legs come off, they still can’t take that away from you.  Even if you were to lose your life, the sacredness could not be taken away from you.

Any time you go into a specific event, whether it’s ordinary or whether it’s a spiritual event, hold the picture of Guru Rinpoche or the Root Guru in your mind, reestablish the picture above the top of your head, and know that this experience begins and ends with the Guru.  If you’re going to the grocery store to buy food for your children or your family, this is an excellent thing to do. Gradually, over time, even in ordinary experiences that had no flavor, that seemed to have no connection between this ordinary activity and spirituality, you will begin to establish more of a View and begin to see every experience as spiritual.  Whatever job you have, whatever activities you engage in, look for the Guru there.  If you look, you’ll find him.  If you don’t look, you’ll never find him.

With that kind of discrimination and Guru Yoga, I find that the amazing opportunities and blessings come through the most ordinary experiences.  To the degree that I see all phenomena as the mandala of the Guru, and I hold to be in union with the Guru constantly, then ordinary people, like gas station attendants, will say things that will blow your head off.  That has happened to me, where I’ve been in that frame of mind, looking for the Guru and constantly mindful, and then pull into a gas station, and the gas station attendant says something that just rocks your world.  And it’s about something weird, like renunciation or karma or something like that, and you say to yourself,  “I’m listening, OK!”  That happens.  That doesn’t make the gas station attendant your Guru.  You see the difference, don’t you?  But it does mean that you are beginning to discriminate that nature.  You’re beginning to awaken to that nature.  It’s just a little thread, but it’s something.  It is the beginning of awakening to that.

Somehow we have to think of incorporating this distinction of what is extraordinary into our lives.  It has to be an effort that we actually provide for and make substantial, that we actually create in our lives.  This opportunity to practice like that will never simply come to you.  You may simply meet your Guru, but that’s because you practiced in your last life.  That’s because you practiced before, that’s because you earned it, but once you meet the Guru, once you are on the path, this practice of Guru Yoga becomes your responsibility.  To the degree that you really address it in a very profound, deep and heartfelt way, to that degree, it will benefit and it will awaken the mind.

© Jetsunma Ahkön Lhamo

Astrology for 2/10/2016

2/10/2016 Wednesday by Norma

Once you move past an early sense of tiredness or feeling discouraged, this is a wonderful day! You can solve your problems: one, two, three! Consider that the early difficulty opened the door to good things and don’t hold hard feeling, in fact be grateful! Robert Ingersoll said, “The place to be happy is here. The time to be happy is now.” Don’t keep plugging away after the job is done, go home and
relax. An interesting combination of success, work and relaxation make for a nice day.

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

Get Real

Yeshe Tsogyal

From The Spiritual Path:  A Compilation of Teachings by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo

 

The Vajrayana path is a great gift. Your mind can be purified through the practice of allowing it to arise naturally with those qualities of perfect union and perfectly purified perception. “Well,” you may say. “That sounds good, but will it work?” Yes, it will work. It will work by the power of the transmissions, by the intensity of your effort and faith, and through the power of the mantra and through devotion. These mantras are not invented by ordinary people. They come from primordial wisdom itself.

Though your perception is still faulty, understand that within the center of this confused mandala you have found the perfect path. You have found your teacher and you have received initiation. Something is happening. Therefore the process is not as endless as you may think. This is your precious opportunity, and you should take advantage of it. Where will you find another like it? You have so much help and all the necessary tools and nourishments. Keep in mind the choice. Do you wish to be a practitioner seeking that one precious virtue, or are you just a person wearing a costume? If you are a serious Vajrayana practitioner, you will stop dancing around with rules and regulations and, pardon the slang, “get real about it.” Get real about this path. Understand that you must have the only thing of value—the perception of primordial mind, the realization of the natural state of all phenomena. This is true purity, true virtue.

© Jetsunma Ahkön Lhamo

Astrology for 2/9/2016

2/9/2015 Tuesday by Norma

A dreamy energy permeates the day, reflecting a feeling of uncertainty. Use this open energy to look at the issues of your life from a perspective of not knowing the solution to your problem. Set aside your strongly held agenda and the answer appears, allowing you to move forward with confidence. A happy moment appears and something you’ve really wanted is yours for the taking. Set aside feelings of annoyance about a past event, this is your time! Lama Surya Das said, “Right now, just as you are-this is the moment…don’t miss it!” A slow-moving development is coming into being, like the pyramids, which grew taller every day and were eventually magnificent. It’s a good day to spend special time with those you care for and to honor those who have helped you.

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

Intention and Vows

An excerpt from a teaching called Bodhicitta by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo

From this very moment forward, I offer this life as a gift to the Three Precious Jewels.  My pure intention is to accomplish the purpose of self and others, supreme enlightenment, quickly and surely.  Thus I vow that all my life, every portion shall be used to accomplish that goal.  All my activities shall accomplish that goal.  All my thoughts and feelings are directed towards that goal.  All my possessions shall be strengthened to support that goal.  I shall seek all appropriate teachings, empowerments, and spiritual activities in order to secure that goal.  My own enlightenment is now considered to be equal to and non-dual with the enlightenment of others.  Therefore I vow to support fully and without hesitation the practicing spiritual community.  I vow to support fully with unconditional love the Three Precious Jewels, the recitations, the Sangha and the temple.  I will not kill; I will not lie to accomplish selfish purpose.  I will not steal.  I will not become intoxicated and therefore forget my purpose and vows.  I will not engage in adultery, promiscuous activity by which my intention will be compromised.

I fully intend to do all that I can to accomplish the liberation of all sentient beings.  I consider the realization of all beings to be equal with my own and of equal value.  I fully support the spiritual community and its purpose on Earth.  Should any activity, or possession or relationship be contrary to those purposes, I will systematically change them or eliminate them from my life.  This I promise so there will be an end to hatred, greed and ignorance in my mind stream and in the 3,000 myriads of universes so that all beings and I myself shall achieve the precious awakening.

The Refuge Vow

I take refuge in the Lama,

I take refuge in the Buddha,

I take refuge in the Dharma,

I take refuge in the Sangha.

The Bodhisattva Vow

I dedicate myself to the liberation and salvation of all sentient beings.  I offer my body, speech and mind in order to accomplish the purpose of all sentient beings.  I will return in whatever form necessary under extraordinary conditions to end suffering.  Let me be born in times unpredictable, in places unknown until all sentient beings are liberated from the cycle of death and rebirth.  Taking no thought for my comfort or safety, Precious Lama, make of me a pure and perfect instrument by which the end of suffering and death in all forms may be realized.  Let me achieve perfect enlightenment for the sake of all beings.  Then by my hand and heart alone, may all beings achieve full enlightenment and perfect liberation.

Copyright © Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo.  All rights reserved

WP2Social Auto Publish Powered By : XYZScripts.com