Setting Aside Judgment

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

We view our own liberation as non-dual with the liberation of others: As I reach liberation, as I move closer to enlightenment, I am more and more able to be of benefit to others.  So I am interested in my own spiritual practice, interested in my own enlightenment for their sake, as well as for my sake. Of course, I am one of them.  My own liberation and the liberation of others become non-dual, and we begin to understand that we are truly and utterly inseparable in essence and in truth.

So we begin by walking with these simple and mindful meditations.  Now don’t get obsessive about it.  If you forget to do it for an hour a day, just like anything else, you just climb back on. Judgment is useless—you can toss it out.   What is needed, what you should cultivate, is the ability to view yourself honestly, without self-hatred.  Self-hatred has no place on this path.  Hatred of any kind has no place on this path.  So, too, that kind of ridiculous judgment. I would prefer that you do not judge me as a Bodhisattva, expecting me to look or act a certain way. I would prefer that you do not judge yourself as a budding Bodhisattva to look and act a certain way, and thereby condemn and end your potency on the path.  So don’t do it to me, and don’t do it to you.  You won’t catch me doing it to me or you.

Copyright © Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo.  All rights reserved

Astrology

A puzzling situation is present today where action is blocked from nearly every angle.  St. Theresa of Avila said “Let nothing disturb thee, let nothing affright thee.  All things are passing”.  An appeal to authority is denied and you’re not sure where to go.  Still, the open door comes through financial matters; investments, purchasing and business opportunities.  These are excellent.  You don’t much feel like conducting business, but if you do you won’t regret it.  Someone can come up with an outstanding idea.  Follow it, and it’s a winner.  Emotional issues are still pressing, but you are able to express yourself in such a way as to resolve things.  Go for a drive, call a friend, walk around.  Activity helps now, and tomorrow is another day.

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

A domestic or emotional disturbance begins the day.  Someone’s authority has been challenged, or a long held belief is being questioned. At the same time, good will and camaraderie are present. Persistent questioning, a need to know the whole story, is opening minds to new vistas.  Household matters, family matters, must be tended to. A dual theme emerges today.  You can be pulled in two directions. The first is the significance of home and family. The second is the need to learn, to disseminate information and to get the facts.  Talk and nurture, talk and nurture, this is what happens today. “Like a beautiful flower, full of color, but without scent, are the fine but fruitless words of him who does not act accordingly,” says Buddhism.  Be sure that your actions match your words.

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

A surprise is in store today or early tomorrow.  Powerful figures meet a force that is strong and they can behave in a strange manner.  If something worrisome heads directly toward you, avert your gaze, look sideways, because a powerfully protective force is present.  Whew!  Help is here.  Financial arrangements can save the day, and you could win a wonderful prize.  Don’t take anything head on, “Don’t bring things to a painful point,” as Atisha said.  Let go, relax, step aside, and all is well. Don’t lead with your ego and it won’t get squashed. What to do?  Actively write, speak, and exercise.  Contact others, and share information.  Relaxation is possible in behind the scenes activities.  Chill.

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

A delightful message or trip is yours for the taking.  Go for it.  Spend time communing with friends and those who are supportive of your aspirations.  You’re moving toward a decision that is driven by home and emotional considerations.  You may bow out of something you’d committed to.  Don’t close the door entirely; you may return when the sentimental issue is resolved.  Two areas of life are especially promising today.  First, financial matters are favorable. Plans for the future will turn out well, so spend time planning.  Next, energetic action or exercise is extremely helpful.  Your mind and body respond to a good workout, and afterwards you are renewed and see the world with different eyes.  Plus you’re less vulnerable to the emotional volatility that’s in the air.  Christopher Morley said “It’s a good thing to turn your mind upside down now and then, like an hour-glass, to let the particles run the other way.” That could happen today.

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!

Mindfulness and Compassion: A Meditation on Bodhicitta in Everyday Life

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

There are many different ways that one can actually engage and begin to train the mind as a Bodhisattva.  Actually, as a Bodhisattva the goal is to make every aspect of one’s life a vehicle for the benefit for others.  So, what would that look like?  Well, what about the ordinary things that you do?  Westerners have all these different elements in their lives, divided into sections, pigeon holes.  There’s the holy part, and there’s the ordinary part. There’s your regular personality and the way you are to your husband, wife,  kids, in-laws, and all those people that know you better than anybody.  There’s another part of your life where you’re out on the street, and people get to see you with your street-face on.  And then there’s the personal part.  You go to the bathroom and all those kinds of things. There’s the intellectual part,  the part that goes to the movies, and the part that exercises.  There are all these different parts, and because we’re so deluded, none of them seems to have much relationship to each other.  It’s like we’re juggling cats all the time.

One of the things that you have to do as a Bodhisattva is to make your entire life a basket, a vehicle for this compassion.  But how do you do that?  Well, there are these walking mindfulness meditations that you can do that are extremely beneficial.  If you find yourself moving into a depression or some sort of negative mood, if you really try to practice some sort of absorption with them, they’ll pull you right out of it, It’s very simple.  You don’t have to sit down and do the “holy” thing.  You don’t even have to put on your dharma clothes, pick up your pretty beads, or wear your particular medallions showing that you’re cool. You don’t have to do any of that.  All you have to do is, oh, I don’t know, let’s say, eat lunch.  As you’re eating lunch, you would pick up a spoonful of the food and you would say a quiet, loving prayer, a heart-felt wish, “As I take this nourishment into my body, may all sentient beings be nourished by the light and power of Bodhichitta.  As I take this drink into my body, may all sentient beings be watered and nurtured by the nectar of dharma.”  As you walk through the door, “May the suffering of all sentient beings be ended by the virtue of my walking through this door. May they be led through the door of liberation.”  It’s a constant mindfulness meditation.  As I walk down the street, “May all sentient beings walk down the path to liberation.”  In the car while looking at a map trying to find these crazy Washington streets and where they go, “By the virtue of this activity, may all sentient beings receive the proper guidance and direction by which they can accomplish dharma and be free.”

So you have a choice with everything that you engage in.  You can be looking at the map and cussing like a trooper, hating the way D.C. is laid out with those weird tunnels, or you can be utilizing the opportunity. You’re going to be looking at the map and finding your street anyway.  So instead of getting into a bad mood, perhaps you could use that as an opportunity to understand that all sentient beings are directionless and hungry for direction.  A small prayer at that moment that all sentient beings be guided on the path to liberation is appropriate and beneficial. It organizes your mind and thought. Mindfulness becomes so profound and so clarified that almost anything that you’re doing at that time is better, happier.  It takes on more meaning.  The mind is more clear, less filled with the kinds of hyper-emotions that make us crazy and confused.

Turn everything into that kind of meditation, that kind of consideration for the well-being of others.  Everything. “As I ascend the staircase, may all sentient beings ascend into the true meaning of dharma.”  You’re free to make up your own prayer concerning the welfare of sentient beings.  It doesn’t have to be my prayer.  Make up your own.  If you constantly walk around like that, you’ll find that you are changing in some subtle way that you can’t understand. You have less bad moods, less depression, less frequent overwhelming concern with your ego to the point where you are busy doing nothing but manipulating everything and everybody around you in order that they will get it right for you, which is pretty much how we live.  That kind of thing begins to change and you’re less concerned with manipulating everything and everyone around you in order to get what you want. You spend less time accomplishing the great mantra of “gimme gimme gimme iwant iwant iwant hung phat!” And you are more concerned with the welfare of others.  Something inside of you begins to change.  Remember, our habitual tendency is so strongly biased toward ego cherishing that we really have to spend a lot of time putting something in the pile of concern for others in order to bring the mind back into some kind of balance.  This kind of meditation really brings about that kind of balance, and your habit begins to change.

Copyright © Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo.  All rights reserved

Astrology

This is a bewildering day, one where you are pulled in four directions at once. Which way to go? A powerful energy impels you toward a personal agenda:. A strong leader makes an emotional appeal for a different direction.  Your partner wants something else.  And the world or the demands of your position require your attention.  Good grief!  The danger is that you will become immobilized and do nothing. That isn’t an option. The best choice will come to you through thought, discussion and energetic activity. Do what you must do, and then relax. Spend time with loved ones and tell funny stories or jokes. Makiguchi said “Live lightly on the Earth.” Not an easy thing today.

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

The home front is most important to you today.  Work on your home, begin renovations if you plan them. Spend time on family or domestic affairs.  Cook, take care of others, nurture people who need it (everybody!)  At the same time, material good fortune comes as a result of a sudden venture into a totally new area.  Something unexpected pops up, and it’s a good thing if you act immediately.  If you wait, the opportunity will pass.  Writing and speaking is especially pleasing, and this is a good day to interact with neighbors or siblings.  Express yourself!  Be careful, you and others are driving faster than usual.  Samuel Butler said “Life is like playing a violin solo in public and learning the instrument as one goes on.”  Don’t worry if you’re not quite sure what you’re doing; you’re learning!

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

More grief comes today, but it is combined with a wonderful idea that swiftly moves things forward.  Not all good ideas spring from happiness;  sometimes suffering produces the best plans. “Thomas Haliburton said “Hope is a pleasant acquaintance, but an unsafe friend.”  Make plans based on reality, and a door opens softly, as if in a dream or a mist.  Pay particular attention to your daydreams or fantasies today; they are pointing you in the right direction.  On the financial front you are marching slowly and steadily toward a resounding success!  Write letters, send emails.  It’s communication time.  Try not to get lost.

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!

Bodhicitta and Generating the Deity

The following is from a series of tweets by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo in response to some comments from one of her students:

Gonpo: To say one “generates” this or that — deity or Bodhichitta – is a type of that materialism. Kind of like, “wow, look at me!” Our great Vajrayana teachers like Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo help is cut through such materialism. Help us cut ego, relax mind, do nothing maybe! I don’t know, but my understanding from Jetsunma is that the Bodhichitta, our Buddhanature isn’t where the work needs to happen. Our habits are.

Jetsunma: Your statement Gonpo, bears a little comment. “Yidam generation stage” is indeed Vajrayana. In the generation stage one generates the qualities of the yidam, mixing one’s mind so as to gain the mind aspect. One generates the handheld implements and their meaning to gain the qualities and activities of the Deity. Say your generation stage is Bodhisattva Manjushri. The implements are meant to be generated with a deep understanding of their meaning. Like Manjushri’s sword of wisdom is seen to cut through ignorance. The text he holds is a symbol of wisdom, purity of mind. All yidams are practiced like that. Now say you are practicing a yidam in yab/yum posture. What are you practicing there? The union of compassion and method! Or also called “wisdom and display” which also means one must accomplish the meaning and the concerned activities as your own very display in samsara.

All yidams, deities are the very door to liberation, and that is the great blessing power they offer. They are not ordinary, they emanate from primordial awareness, the profound Buddha Nature. Why is this? In their great compassion their sole concern is to liberate beings from the cycle of suffering and rebirth. Therefore, if one generates any yidam their first and primary concern should be the same. To benefit and liberate all motherly beings from suffering.

OM MANI PEDME HUNG!

OM AH RAPATSANA DHI!

Copyright © Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo.  All rights reserved

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