Moods, Bodhicitta and Mental Discipline

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The following is an excerpt from a teaching called “Your Treasure is Heart”

In order to understand how mental discipline will help you feel more compassionate, you need to understand that compassion is not an emotion.  Bodhichitta is not an emotion.  It doesn’t exist on that dense a level.  It’s not as dense as an emotion.  Emotions are actually reactions.  If you take perception, delusion, duality, confusion, hatred, greed and ignorance, all of those things that are characteristic of samsara, and you shake them up in a jar, the bubbles that you would get, like the bubbles from soap, are roughly the equivalent of emotions.  Emotions are the result of conceptual proliferation, whipped up into a very exaggerated state.  They are reactive. Bodhichitta really has nothing to do with that.

When we begin to give rise to the Bodhichitta, we do so, first of all, through mental discipline.  As we begin to practice, we have some understanding of the suffering of sentient beings and why we should engage in loving concern for them.  When we examine the thoughts that turn the mind, we really tune into the sufferings of samsara.  We tune in, as well, to the fact that we have lived so many lifetimes that literally anyone that we can see, or see a picture of, or hear or think of has been our own kind parent in some previous life.  Yet these beings are wandering in samsara just like a bee that’s caught in a jar, absolutely clueless as to how to create the causes by which their terrible suffering might end.

Once you learn that, you discipline your mind not to ignore it.  We like to surf on the sensual pleasure of the moment.  We like to enjoy, and try to get as high in our daily routine as possible, so we can just surf on the moment of experience.  We don’t want to think about the condition of sentient beings.  So this mental discipline is required in order to be a serious practitioner. You can’t cut corners here. If you don’t put in the time, your practice will never be up to snuff.

Many students come to me saying “Well, I just don’t feel this compassion.”  My answer is, so what!  Compassion is not an emotion.  Nobody is going to benefit by how you feel.  They’re going to benefit by what you do.  So do the practice.  Discipline yourself to contemplate the causes and conditions of both happiness and suffering; and particularly contemplate the suffering of sentient beings,  These contemplations cannot be short-circuited. They must be delved into with everything you have. Once you do that you begin to feel a certain kind of determination and motivation, and it begins to make sense.

When I was 20, I had not met with the path of Dharma yet, but I was actually given these contemplations directly in my own meditation and in the dream state. So I began to practice them.  What happened to me was I realized that compassion is the only thing that makes sense.  Think about the logic of it. Here you are, one sentient being on our planet where in the human realm alone, there are roughly six billion of us.  On our planet there are also uncountable animal forms.  You can’t even count the number of ants in an ant hill.  Each one of them is a sentient being with the Buddha nature within them, just as surely as you are, yet they appear in this form due to their own habitual tendency and the way that their consciousness is functioning. How many uncountable sentient beings can be seen with the eye on this planet alone!

If this absolute Buddha nature, this ground of being, is my nature, and you are that also, and yet we appear in these multitudinous forms, wandering and suffering in samsara, it made perfect sense to me to dedicate my life to the liberation and salvation of all sentient beings.  Nothing else seemed logical or reasonable.  And from that, gradually, this determination grew.  For about ten months,  I went through the mental discipline. I practiced for eight to ten hours a day only on those contemplations until I could see clearly for myself that this is the only game in town that made sense.  With that knowledge, living any other kind of life seemed like whoring or prostitution to me, and it didn’t seem reasonable.  So my discrimination was born.

In the Buddha’s teachings we are told that there are three thousand myriads of universes, three thousand myriads of universes.  That’s just one number that gives us some understanding that we’re talking big!  The Buddha also teaches us that there are formless realms, and there are uncountable sentient beings in these formless realms.  So logically, if my nature is this Buddha nature, completely inseparable from the very Lord that I call Buddha, completely inseparable and indistinguishable from all these sentient beings, it is logical and reasonable that I would do everything that I can to bring benefit to others instead of spending my entire life in ego-gratification and self-cherishing.  It is logical and reasonable also to me, that I will never be happy until every sentient being is free.  That’s what seems reasonable to me.

Once you have that kind of understanding, you have to go through the process of reminding yourself, keeping it alive every step of the way.  If any of you have been married, you know that taking the vow is not the end of the issue.  If you want to remain in that situation, you really have to work at it.  Giving rise to the Bodhichitta is like that .  The effort doesn’t stop once you come to the great conclusion.  You have to remind yourself every day.  It’s part of the discipline of practice so that you remain mindful.  On the path of Dharma these contemplations are crucial.

So this is how it starts.  It starts in mental discipline which gives rise to determination.  Where’s the emotion in all that?  Emotions become inconsequential.  Once you realize that there are six billion humans, that you know of, wandering in samsara, not understanding how to create the causes of happiness, whether you have gas at that moment or are in a good or a bad mood, those kinds of things become a moot point.  You learn that it’s OK to be a Bodhisattva in a bad mood.  But you don’t get to stop, you see, because you’ve learned something.

Copyright © Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo.  All rights reserved

Astrology

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Two sides are present today.  One side is philosophical and the other is rational.  One side speaks of “what should be” and the other side speaks of “what is.” The answer today lies in both.  Do your best to accommodate the two sides in all you do.  How is that done?  You figure it out! This falls into the category of “Trust god but tie your camel to a post.” You can do both and be aware of both at the same time.  An old love appears, or will appear in the next several days.  This person has true feelings for you.  Someone who seems slow or difficult must be taken into consideration.  This person is in fact a grounding force now, in the same way a high flying balloon is attached to earth by a string.  The talk and communication continues!  Stay part of it, even though you may be getting tired of it.  Don’t stop listening.

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

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An overarching intelligence clears things up today.  A long distance communication or news source gives a different perspective to a problem.  This is a good day for travel and research of all sorts.  It’ll be hard to sit still.  Issues from the past need to be resolved, and it’s still important to separate the past from the present/future. Someone who has been important or had power attempts to re-assert that power, but it doesn’t work.  Good fortune comes from legal matters.  A decision with far reaching consequences is made today.  A witty or amusing debate sparks an interesting relationship. Erasmus said “The summit of happiness is reached when a person is ready to be what he is.”  Pay close attention to your car: take it in to the dealer if it is making strange sounds.  Money matters are successful and on the upswing.

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

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Be careful that you don’t champion a cause that takes you back into the past. Philosophies or things you believed in previously are not appropriate for the issues that face you today.  Beware of a “Great Leap Backwards” in your thinking.  You are seeking a safe harbor.  The attraction is the pull of a safer time associated with the past. It doesn’t exist.  “You can’t go anywhere in the chariots of the past” says Anonymous. Look to the future and to the big picture for inspiration. Two different viewpoints emerge today.  One side has finances on its mind and the other side is emotional.  Give each side its due and balance evenly between the two; it’s a mistake to let one position win 100%. In a different direction, magnetic love is present and friends and groups are especially supportive.

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!

Prayer for Mental Clarity

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The following is from a twitter conversation between Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo and a follower on twitter:

Student: need your advice. I am so nervous to face my exam tomorrow. What should i do? is there a pray for it and to get success maybe?

Jetsunma: Hi, a good mantra to recite for memory, mental clarity, wisdom is to the great Manjushri. mantra: Pronounce “OM AH RA PA TSA NA DHI”

Student: Thanks a lot! It can be read anytime or just before doing something?

Jetsunma: Any time at all!

Copyright © Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo.  All rights reserved

Astrology

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Listen for a hidden matter that is revealed.  A financial or emotional supporter is nearby just waiting for the right moment to step in.  If that is you, pay close attention to the nature of things.  Do others need help now, seriously, or are you listening to repetitive complaints?  A beneath-the-surface energy enables you to determine what is true and what is false.  It’s a great day for detectives.  The case can be solved.  Continue talking with everyone about everything!  A sudden love or source of joy appears as if from nowhere.  Love is everywhere.  A conversation with a woman or child provides crucial information.  Make a will, if you haven’t.  And continue to learn new things. Leonardo da Vince said “Just as iron rusts from disuse, even so does inaction spoil the intellect.”

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!

Use Your Heart

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

I hope and pray all people will come to see that kindness is the way. Most trouble can be avoided if we are simply good hearted. Bitterness and meanness poison just about every situation. If people would communicate skillfully and with respect nearly all arguments can be solved without war or hate. Only when one’s very life and livelihood are threatened, then legal council should be sought for advice.

In general, no resolution is ever possible with insults, snarky talk, or childish cruel jokes or rants. It is possible to grow up and grow in the capacity for compassion with practice. If we care about any sentient beings, we must care about all, as we are all of the same nature. So the obsession with harming others is a strong indication that this is not well understood. From the view of say, Lord Buddha’s extraordinary awakened state, there is no “place” where one life “ends” and another life “begins.” There is only the empty and complete display of the primordial ground of being. Beyond that, we are not separate- not in being, not in distance, and not in time, as these are all relative, where the absolute nature is unchanging, and fulfilled at once.

Relative view can be a real mess, and discord results when one has no healthy boundaries or indulges the ignorant, ordinary monkey-mind to do as it pleases. We are not here for that. We are all, in ultimate view, Buddha in physical form. How well the “light” shines through one’s “window” depends entirely on how well we clean and keep the “glass”, and this is our true job. We must see all as it is. Not as our habits dictate. You can change, you can do better. You are Buddha! Never forget that. Use your heart, and stand tall for the sake of all!

OM MANI PEDME HUNG!

Copyright © Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo.  All rights reserved

Six Realms of Cyclic Existence

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

Most people, however, fixated as they are on self-nature, experience hatred, greed, and ignorance.  This is the content of their mindstream.  We all have a great amount of self-concern, craving, desire, and grasping, which Buddhists consider a form of greed.  We have abundant anger.

You know you have anger; everyone has anger, which Buddhists consider a form of hatred.  And we have ignorance, which in Buddhist terminology signifies the lack of awareness of the primordial Wisdom State.  It means the lack of being awake as the Buddha is awake.

In the Bardo, some of the latent karmic potential, or the karmic seeds in our mindstream, will ripen.  For instance, if we have hatred within our mindstream, we will perceive it externalized as some kind of demonic entity––and respond with fear.  And we will try to take rebirth as soon as possible.  We will go compulsively into the next rebirth.  So it’s very possible that we take rebirth in an undesirable form.

Even if we achieve again the precious human form, we might be reborn in poverty in Calcutta, or as the offspring of parents who have AIDS.  And we ourselves could have AIDS.  There is no way to predict how karma will ripen.  This is the unpredictability of cyclic existence.

Of the six realms of cyclic existence, the human realm is considered the most precious––because it is the only realm in which we can practice Dharma in order to achieve Realization.  In all the other realms, preoccupation with immediate experience is too tight, too intense––so much so that one cannot meditate, contemplate, or practice.   This is true even in the higher realms.

The highest realm into which we can be reborn is the realm of the long-life gods.  The suffering in this realm is actually related to pleasure.  You may think, “I’d like to suffer like that,” but in this realm pleasure really is the source of suffering.

To be reborn in this realm requires tremendously good karma, but also involves the karma of pride.  (It is your pride that will, despite a great accumulation of positive causes, keep you from being born in an Enlightened state.)  Positive causes produce the experience of great pleasure which prevails in the long-life god realm. The scent there is an overpowering experience, sensual and erotic, healing instantly and completely.  Any sense––touch, taste, sight, hearing––is so potent that one is completely intoxicated, completely consumed by it.  The gods in this realm are extremely, excruciatingly beautiful.  Their bodies are sweetly scented; their skin, exceedingly pure.  They swim in nectar-like water; everything they taste is the elixir of life.  And they live for thousands of years.

Some people may think: “How do I get into that place?”  But there’s a catch.  When the thousands of years of their god-realm karma are exausted, these beings begin to change.  Suddenly they are no longer so sweet-smelling.  Then the other gods and goddesses start to move away from them––as far away as they can.

Soon the god-realm beings whose good karma is depleted become aware that they are deteriorating.  No longer are they quite so beautiful; their “high” is wearing off.  They realize that they’ve used up all the fortunate causes they had accumulated for aeons.  Since they have a touch of clairvoyance, they can look down and see that there is nowhere to go but to a lower rebirth.  And they get no help from the other gods and goddesses, who are still absorbed in their intoxication.  This is the most pleasurable rebirth.  You suffer only as it ends.

Immediately below the long-life gods is the realm of the jealous gods.  The causes for being reborn there are power-hunger, competitiveness, and jealousy.  There is much wealth in this realm, and intoxication too, but of another sort––intoxication with power.  There is continual warfare––and the suffering which comes from it.  There is suffering, but also pleasure.  The jealous gods are very powerful, very demanding.  They engage in battle with other gods, and they sometimes become involved with other realms in order to use them for their warfare agenda.

Some say that the Old Testament God Jehovah is actually a jealous god, exhibiting the characteristics of this realm––wielding destruction and demanding exclusive allegiance.

The realm below the jealous gods is the human realm.  In this realm, old age, sickness, and death are our main sufferings.  If we live long enough, all of us experience them.  One cause for being born human––instead of appearing miraculously in the state of Enlightenment––is doubt.  Everyone in the human realm experiences doubt.  You must look at yourself as if from the outside and recognize that doubt is an obstacle to your practice.  We have the habitual tendency of only believing what we can see and hold in our hands.

We may not believe that there are non-physical realms.  Well, we’ve heard of them, and think they may possibly exist.  We think we may have lived before, but we don’t know for sure.

Right below the human realm is the animal realm, in which a rebirth results from “dullness.”  The word actually translates as “stupidity,” but we hesitate to use that term because we all love animals.  Here however we are focusing on the consciousness of animals and their inability to absorb the teachings needed to achieve Realization.  They can’t reason, they can’t be taught in the way humans can.  They’re tightly reactive, completely involved in their experience of phenomena, without any spaciousness between event and reaction.

A tiny bit of spaciousness is the difference between us and animals.  Unlike them, we can consider and formulate in a creative way some kind of impression and response.  An animal’s inability to do this is termed ignorance, or stupidity, or dullness.  Animals are preyed upon by predators, pursued and eaten by one another.  They are often at the mercy of humans, who eat them or use them for their own purposes.  Animals suffer greatly from all that.

Below the animal realm is the realm of the hungry ghosts.  These beings are not visible to our eyes, but we have information about them: the Buddha in his omniscience saw and described them.  The cause for being reborn as a hungry ghost is grasping or desire.  With very small mouths and very big stomachs, these beings are weak from hunger and hardly ever able to get what they need.  They suffer from physical and other kinds of hunger and cannot be satisfied.  They have the unfortunate karma of strange, mixed perception.

When you drink a cup of tea, it tastes like tea to you.  (To long-life gods, it would taste like the most exquisite nectar.)  Hungry ghosts would experience it as pus or another equally horrid substance.  Their perception is askew because of their greed and desire.

The lowest rebirth is in the hell realms.  The main causes for being reborn there are hatred and anger, and the suffering is tremendous.  Who can claim a mind free of anger and hatred?  If you’ve ever had a frightening nightmare from which you felt you could not escape, then you have the potential to create the phenomena of a hellish realm.  It’s the same.

 

© Jetsunma Ahkön Lhamo

To download the complete teaching, click here and scroll down to How Buddhists Think

Astrology

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Kind words with generous intent stabilize things today.  Diplomacy is present, and how you speak to others really matters.  Do your best to point out the good things you see in others today, as opposed to rushing in with criticisms.  An important conversation full of pleasantries, seemingly insignificant, can change the course of matters.  Education and learning are highlighted.  At the very least, keep up with the news if you can’t actively undertake a discipline of study.  What you learn now will play an important role in your future, and you will thank yourself someday for stretching your mind now.  Benjamin Disraeli said “As a general rule, the most successful man in life is the man who has the best information.” Are you informed?

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!

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