March, 2017 | Tibetan Buddhist Altar

Astrology for 3/21/2017

March 21, 2017 by Norma

3/21/2017 Tuesday by Norma

A serious interaction solves a lingering problem and sensitivity is required, which is completely at odds with the exuberant tone of the times. Know when to be jaunty and when to be tender and the day goes well. Avoid the tendency to blurt out private information during a happy conversation. Maintain professional dignity at work and cut loose elsewhere. Keep your attention on your own behavior for best results today. Leo Tolstoy said, “Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself.” This is a good day to exercise, to initiate a new venture, to cure a malady and to share agreeable information.

The House is On Fire

March 20, 2017 by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo

The following is an excerpt from a teaching by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo called “Take Control of Your Life”

The Buddha teaches us tenderly and gently, as though we were his own children. There’s a story about a king who had many children. He loved his children dearly, but they were children, you know, children involved with children things, bright shiny play objects and things that make them happy. So the father left the children, hopefully in good care; he had to go off and do something in his kingdom (I think I’m telling the story right, I hope so. Om Benzar Satto Hung. So he goes away for a while and when he comes back to his house, his house is on fire. It’s a big house and his children don’t even realize it. The children are comfortably asleep in their little children beds. The king is outside. He can’t get to his children and he’s hollering, “Come out children. Hurry up. Get out of that burning house now. Quick wake up. Run.” The kids, they’re not used to being in trouble. They’re the king’s children. They’re used to being safe; and they have that habit of being safe in their beds so they’re not worried about anything. They hear somebody shouting, but they just turn over in their covers and go back to sleep.

The king becomes frantic. They’re his children! So he says, “Children come out now or I’ll beat you with a stick! Come out or I’ll go in there and I’ll just beat you with a stick and knock your heads off. So come out right now.” And the kids go, “Oh, that’s dad. You know, he’s not really going to beat us with a stick, because we’re the king’s kids. He’s just saying that, so we’re not too worried about it.” And so the kids get out of their beds and they start playing with their toys. The king is making so much noise, and they’re in the back room and they’re just playing with their little toys, preoccupied, you know, the way we are, and playing with little things. And then the king goes, “Children, I have beautiful toys for you out here. Treasures. Beautiful things. I have a grand elephant for you to ride. I have a whole herd of horses for you to enjoy. I have beautiful umbrellas and shiny jewels and so many objects for you to come and play with.” Naturally, the kids are attracted by that and go running out of the house. At which time the father, being part Italian goes, “Aye!” (That would have been me. That’s not what the father did.) The father embraced his children and said, “Oh I’m sorry I had to lie to you. I’m sorry I had to promise you things. I’m sorry I had to threaten you. But see, your house is burning.”

Astrology for 3/20/2017

March 20, 2017 by Norma

3/20/2017 Monday by Norma

Ready, set, go! It’s time to charge into action, or at the very least step aside to avoid being trampled. Spirited debates predominate and everyone has an opinion about everything! Men are fired up
and assertive, women are talkative and everyone is interested in spending money. Five planets in fire signs are invigorating and inspiring. Get an early start today, as you will need to get serious in the afternoon when a blockage pops up. Avoid the temptation to charge into trouble, to talk back to a peace officer giving you a traffic ticket, etc, it’s a time waster. But you won’t care. Carl Jung said, “If you have nothing at all to create, then perhaps you create yourself.” Create yourself happy and enthusiastic today.

Party Anyone?

March 19, 2017 by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo

The following is an excerpt from a teaching by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo called “Take Control of Your Life”

First there’s contemplation. We should think like this. All sentient beings are suffering, yet they are all Buddha. How is it that the Buddha was different, that he was not suffering? The Buddha said the difference is, “I am awake.” Therefore, I will practice in such a way as to become awake like the Buddha. Or we can also look at the suffering of sentient beings and we realize that every one of them wishes to be happy exactly like us. We’re so similar; we have different cultures and different colored skin, but we are so similar in that we all wish to be happy. And so the Buddha teaches us that in order to have happiness, we should cultivate a pure and virtuous mind with pure and virtuous deeds.

Now as a young person in a materialistic culture where’s there’s lots of Pepsi Cola and dancing and beautiful people and spring break from college happens on the beach in a bikini and you know, the hallmarks of our civilization, we look at that and we think, ”Pure conduct? Virtuous thoughts? How’s that gonna be fun?”

Well, here’s the problem: You see those young beautiful bodies on the beach, and you think, “Ah, once I had that, was like that.” And then you see they’re all dancing and having a good time and you think, “Ah, for a party. I haven’t had a party in such a long time. How wonderful to be that young and beautiful and have a party.” And then you watch them drinking and you think, “Ah, I used to drink once. That was great!” Because that’s what we were taught. We were taught that we should party and be happy. And that’s what you do with your left over money after you spend all your life making it. These are the things that we’ve been taught.

But the Buddha says, “Well, you have that wonderful body now, but every minute it’s changing.” And for those of us who have been there, and done that, seen that and watched it go, we look at that and we go, “It went fast. Man, it went fast. And you know, I put some effort into that.” And then we think about all the drinking, and that was fun for a little while until we became alcoholics and then it wasn’t fun anymore, or until our stomachs couldn’t take it anymore and then we discovered something. We’re drinking poison! It’s not good for us. So our society doesn’t teach us anything. It teaches us to bang into walls and hopefully from that we may learn something.

Astrology for 3/19/2017

March 19, 2017 by Norma

3/19/2017 Sunday by Norma

If you have been feeling mopey about something don’t worry, things are changing and life is looking happy again. A lingering ailment is healed, a secret sorrow is relinquished and you are full of zip, ready to meet the world again! Fire signs predominate, a tonic after the Piscean angst of the past month. You’ll want to run, skip, hike and sing cheerful songs as the day moves along. Nikos Kazantzakis said, “Since we cannot change reality, let us change the eyes which see reality.” The big picture is once again appealing and travel, philosophy and sports put a bounce in your step. Go somewhere, anywhere, and watch the world transform as your spirits soar.

Taking Account of Our Minds

March 18, 2017 by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo

The following is an excerpt from a teaching by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo called “The Habit of Bodhicitta”

We rarely empathize with the needs of others. We may become aware of them on an intellectual level. And there is a great, vast difference between that and actually empathizing with the needs and hopes and fears of others. We rarely enrich our own life experience by really merging, really blending, really empathizing with the conditions of other people’s minds. Due to our self absorption and self- cherishing, and our inability to relate to the situation of others, we find ourselves able to entertain hostility, anger, pride, selfishness, all of those things that are really detrimental to us. We are able to maintain certain habitual tendencies that we honestly cannot see about ourselves. For instance, if I were to say to you, are you basically a kind person, almost everyone in the room would say yes. We’re here, we’re being spiritual, you know, that sort of thing. But if I ask you how much time you actually spend during the course of any given day actually doing for others in a real compassionate way—keeping the bodhichitta or the compassion alive within one’s mind—how much are you actually aware of the needs and unfulfilled desires of others, we would be shocked.Really, if we actually clocked ourselves in and out of such a realization, we would be shocked at how little time we actually spend doing that. So I think it’s sometimes really helpful to make a purposeful and directed effort, such as actually clocking in when you are aware of the needs and desires of other people and when you actively participate in trying to help in some way.

The help can take different forms. Sometimes the things that people want around aren’t really good for them to have. I mean, you have a teenage son that wants nothing better than a very fast car, and you know that that’s not quite right for him. So you don’t always give a person what they want, but you can certainly empathize. You can certainly be there in a very kind and profound way as a force for connection, for communication in someone else’s life.

We actually spend very little time doing that. We spend most of our time thinking about ourselves and our own problems and our ideas. So fixated on our own ideas, so fixated on our self-cherishing. Sometimes we don’t realize that we’re almost dyslexic about kindness. Or, what is the word? Maybe we perseverate about kindness. We have this idea that we’ve already done it, you know, that it is happening, and we don’t realize that it’s not being written down at all. It’s just not going out into the world. So sometimes it really helps to journal to really see what you’ve actually done during that day to bring kindness into the world. That would be extremely useful.

Astrology for 3/18/2017

March 18, 2017 by Norma

3/18/2017 Saturday by Norma

Pleasant aspects make for a nice day, one that is free from most of the recent dust-ups of the times. Happy talk, combined with good will in communication, is a feature of the day. If you have something nice to say, a compliment to deliver, today is the day! Brisk activity is satisfying and a plan for a new beginning is in the air. Ninon de Lenclos said, “Today a new sun rises for me; everything lives, everything is animated. Everything seems to speak to me, everything invites me to cherish it.” This enjoyable day compensates for the bad dream or difficulty that occurred late last night. Hopefully you slept through it.

Precious Human Rebirth – YouTube Video

March 17, 2017 by anisonam

Precious Human Rebirth: YouTube video teaching by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo:

Astrology for 3/17/2017

March 17, 2017 by Norma

3/17/2017 Friday by Norma

An ego-squash is possible today. Something that has been heading your way makes an appearance, and you must accept reality, take your medicine, and be glad it’s over. Whew! A supportive person is on your side, convinced you’re right, and ready to help in whatever is required. Happy talk and good-natured banter offer a cheerful element today, and authors and commentators have plenty to chuckle about. Phone calls, conversations and communications are light in tone and invigorating. Agnes Repplier said, “We cannot really love anyone with whom we do not laugh.” The prevailing energy turns from serious to humorous, and all you have to do is wait.

As Many Paths…

March 16, 2017 by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo

The following is an excerpt from a teaching by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo called “Take Control of Your Life”

Society will teach you wrongly until it understands your nature. The Buddha is the perfect teacher—the perfect one because he so thoroughly understood our nature. It is said that when a student came to him for the first time, and said, “I would like to become Buddhist,” or “I would like to take teaching with you,” he could see in an instant all the causes and conditions that brought that student to that moment where he faced the Buddha. He could see every cause and condition and could give each and every student the antidote necessary to provide the blessings for enlightenment.

That being the case, we can trust in the Buddha’s teaching. He doesn’t say, “You’re a bag of chemicals. Now you’re breathing. So good, go get a job. Make yourself happy. Have a chicken in your pot, or a pot with some chicken”. I don’t know…” Have a drink on Friday nights.”—whatever it is that makes people happy. He doesn’t say, “Follow in your culture.” He tears the veil apart and he says, “Based on your nature, this is what must be done. Based on your path, this is what must be done.” And there are as many methods in the Buddhadharma as there are sentient beings to follow them.