January 2018 — Jendhamuni-Buddhism

Abandoning hope

Comment January 18, 2018

Hope and fear is a feeling with two sides. As long as there’s one, there’s always the other. This is the root of our pain. In the world of hope and fear, we always have to change the channel, change the temperature, change the music, because something is getting uneasy, something is getting restless, something is beginning to hurt, and we keep looking for alternatives.

In a nontheistic state of mind, abandoning hope is an affirmation, the beginning of the beginning. You could even put “Abandon hope” on your refrigerator door instead of more conventional aspirations like “Every day in every way I’m getting better and better. ~ Pema Chödron
Clinging to our hopes and fears

Comment January 16, 2018

Most of the time we are trying to make the good things last, or we are thinking about replacing them with something even better in the future, or we are sunk in the past, reminiscing about happier times. Ironically, we never truly appreciated the experience for which we are nostalgic because we were too busy clinging to our hopes and fears at the time. ~ Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche
What is merit

Comment January 16, 2018

From one perspective, merit is “ability”; all the abilities, in fact, that make it possible for us to hear, contemplate, meditate on and practise the dharma, including the ability to feel curious.

These days our merit is so limited that the vast majority of human beings are unable to recognise how special dharma is. Not only do we lack the merit to practise the dharma, we have so little that we can’t even enjoy samsaric life. ~ Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche
As they truly are

Comment January 15, 2018

As the Buddha said to the gathering of monks during his teachings on the vinaya, discipline helps us maintain samadhi, becoming accustomed to samadhi lengthens our periods of sobriety, and sobriety is none other than wisdom. Having realised wisdom, we are no longer bound by desire, anger and ignorance, and are able to perceive all phenomena as they truly are. ~ Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche
When we’re completely free of all hunger, desire, and want

Comment January 15, 2018

Happiness is when there is no hunger or want at all, when we’re completely free of all hunger, desire, and want. ~Buddhadasa
Mind’s ultimate nature

Comment January 15, 2018

Mind’s ultimate nature, emptiness endowed with vividness,
I was told is the real Buddha.
Recognizing this should help me
Not to be stuck with thoughts of hierarchy.

Mind’s ultimate nature, its emptiness aspect,
I was told is the real Dharma.
Recognizing this should help me
Not to be stuck with thoughts of political correctness.

Mind’s ultimate nature, its vivid aspect,
I was told is the real Sangha.
Recognizing this should help me
Not to be stuck with thoughts of equal rights.

One cannot disassociate emptiness from vividness.
This inseparability I was told is the Guru.
Recognizing this should help me
Not to be stuck with depending on chauvinist lamas.

This nature of mind has never been stained by duality,
This stainlessness I was told is the deity.
Recognizing this should help me
Not to be stuck with the categories of “gender” or “culture.”

This nature of mind is spontaneously present.
That spontaneity I was told is the dakini aspect.
Recognizing this should help me
Not to be stuck with fear of being sued.

~ Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche
Letting be

Comment January 12, 2018

The method that the Buddha discovered is meditation. He discovered that struggling to find answers did not work. It was only when there were gaps in his struggle that insights came to him. He began to realize that there was a sane, awake quality within him that manifested itself only in the absence of struggle. So the practice of meditation involves “letting be.” ~ Chögyam Trungpa
Sadness

Comment January 12, 2018

The most crucial prerequisite for the practise of dharma is complete isolation because when we are alone, we are subject to fewer distractions, creating the perfect conditions for sadness to grow in our minds.

For those who know how to use it, sadness is a fertile ground from which all kinds of beneficial thoughts can spring with very little effort.

Jigme Lingpa described sadness as one of the most invaluable kinds of noble wealth, and in the sutras Buddha hailed sadness as the trailblazer for all subsequent good qualities.

With sadness comes trust and devotion, which, once developed, mean the practises of shamatha and vipashyana require very little effort. Shamatha practise ensures that mind becomes malleable and workable, and a flexible mind makes vipashyana relatively easy to accomplish. ~ Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche
What is the world full of?

Comment January 12, 2018

What is the world full of? It is full of things that arise, persist, and cease. Grasp and cling to them, and they produce suffering. Don’t grasp and cling to them, and they do not produce suffering. ~Buddhadasa
To believe straight away is foolishness

Comment January 12, 2018

To believe straight away is foolishness, to believe after having seen clearly is good sense. That is the Buddhist policy in belief; not to believe stupidly, or to rely only on people, textbooks, conjecture, reasoning, or whatever the majority believes, but rather to believe what we see clearly for ourselves to be the case. This is how it is in Buddhism. ~Buddhadasa