Progress in Awakening Begins With Acknowledging Where You Are

Pema Chodron

"It is tempting to ask ourselves if we are making 'progress' on the spiritual path. But to look for progress is a set-up-a guarantee that we won't measure up to some arbitrary goal we've established.

Traditional teachings tell us that one sign of progress in meditation practice is that our kleshas diminish. Kleshas are the strong conflicting emotions that spin off and heighten when we get caught by aversion and attraction.

 Though the teachings point us in the direction of diminishing our klesha activity, calling ourselves "bad" because we have strong conflicting emotions is not helpful. That just causes negativity and suffering to escalate. What helps is to train again and again in not acting out our kleshas with speech and actions, and also in not repressing them or getting caught in guilt. The traditional instruction is to find the middle way between the extreme views of indulging-going right ahead and telling people off verbally or mentally-and repressing: biting your tongue and calling yourself a bad person.

Now, to find what the middle way means is a challenging path. That is hard to know how to do. We routinely think we have to go to one extreme or the other, either acting out or repressing. We are unaware of that middle ground between the two. But the open space of the middle ground is where wisdom lies, where compassion lies, and where lots of discoveries are to be made. One discovery we make there is that progress isn't what we think it is.

We are talking about a gradual awakening, a gradual learning process. By looking deeply and compassionately at how we are affecting ourselves and others with our speech and actions, very slowly we can acknowledge what is happening to us. We begin to see when, for example, we are starting to harden our views and spin a story line about a situation. We begin to be able to acknowledge when we are blaming people, or when we are afraid and pulling back, or when we are completely tense, or when we can't soften, or when we can't refrain from saying something harsh. We begin to acknowledge where we are. This ability comes from meditation practice. The ability to notice where we are and what we do comes from practice.

I should point out that what we're talking about is not judgmental acknowledging, but compassionate acknowledging. This compassionate aspect of acknowledging is also cultivated by meditation. In meditation we sit quietly with ourselves and we acknowledge whatever comes up with an unbiased attitude-we label it 'thinking' and go back to the out-breath. We train in not labeling our thoughts 'bad' or 'good,' but in simply seeing them. Anyone who has meditated knows that this journey from judging ourselves or others to seeing what is, without bias, is a gradual one.

So one sign of progress is that we can begin to acknowledge what is happening. We can't do it every time, but at some point we realize we are acknowledging more, and that our acknowledgment is compassionate-not judgmental, parental or authoritarian. We begin to touch in with unconditional friendliness, which we call maitri—an unconditional openness towards whatever might arise. Again and again throughout our day we can acknowledge what's happening with a bit more gentleness and honesty. . ."

Pema Chodron from Start Where You Are
Copyright © 2004 Shambhala Sun Magazine

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How Mindfulness Brings Meaning to Our Lives

"When we rush in with...mental chatter, we are no longer being mindful. We are just thinking about being mindful. Mindfulness is not thinking about, it is being present and actually knowing in the moment without any mental commentary. If commentary begins to happen, we simply ignore it and return to being present in the moment.

Think about this. There are so many things happening in our lives that we never really experience. We experience only ideas, interpretations, and comparisons. We dwell on things that happened in the past or anticipate future events. But we almost never experience the moment itself. It is for this reason that we often find our lives boring and meaningless. What we need to realize is that this sense of meaninglessness does not come from our lives, but from the quality of awareness with which we live our lives."

Ani Tenzin Palmo - Reflections on a Mountain Lake: Teachings on Practical Buddhism

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A Tibetan Lama's Insight into Doing Good for Others

Helpful Thoughts on Doing Good for Others

By Chagdud Tulku Rinpoche

Question (Helen): For months at a time, I can be tremendously active and capable of helping others. Inevitably, a difficult situation arises, and I despair of ever making any difference in the world whatsoever. I realize that good heart is the way to go, but how can I deal with these periods of burnout?

Answer (Rinpoche): Ideally, we serve others with pure heart, not expecting gratitude, payment or recognition. We accept complaints with equanimity and patiently continue, knowing that people don't always see the purpose of what we're doing. Though our actions may seem insignificant or unproductive, if our motivation is pure and we dedicate the merit expansively, we generate great virtue.

Though we may not accomplish what we set out to do, auspicious conditions and our ability to benefit others in the future will only increase. No effort is wasted; when someone witnesses our loving-kindness, he sees a new way of responding to anger or aggression. This becomes a reference point in his mind that, like a seed,will eventually flower when conditions ripen. Then when we dedicate the virtue, our loving kindness will extend to all beings.

We mustn't become discouraged if someone we are trying to help continues to experience the results of her negative karma and, in the process, creates the causes of future suffering. Instead, because she doesn't have enough merit for her suffering to end, we must redouble our efforts to accumulate merit and dedicate it to her and others. We're not out to accomplish selfish aims. We are trying to establish the causes of lasting happiness for all beings. By purifying our self-interest and mental poisons, we develop a heroic mind. The process of going beyond suffering and helping others do the same is the way of the Bodhisattva."

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Feeling stuck? What Does that Tell Us?

"This very moment is the perfect teacher. It shows us exactly where we are stuck and where we are free. And luckily for us, it’s with us wherever we are." ♡♡♡ Pema Chodron

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Shambhala Announces Weekend Online Retreat with Pema Chödrön!

Although I have no affiliation with Shambhala Publications, I am a long-time admirer and student of Pema Chödrön's books and teachings.  So, when I got an e-mail today announcing this online retreat with Pema, I thought I'd help spread the word!

The online retreat is October 28-30. If you are interested in participating, you should go to the Shambhala web site to get complete information by clicking on this link:

Online Retreat with Pema Chödrön 

Here are a few details from Shambhala's webpage to pique your interest!

• How do we work skillfully with rough times?
• How do we transform our lives during times of upheaval and unpredictability?
• How do we broaden our tolerance for uneasiness?

These and related questions will be explored in detail by Pema Chödrön during this retreat—a rare opportunity to study and practice with the beloved teacher in real time.

When we’re going through a challenging period, Pema teaches, we all need to find ways to tap into our inherent strength and courage. When we access that brave heart within, answers to those hard questions arise on their own quite naturally.

Pema Chödrön’s message during this weekend retreat is as simple as it is bold: We can do it! And we can all do it beautifully.

The online retreat includes:

•     Full access to the three-day event in real time via live webcast.
•     Post-event access to the on-demand video with streaming video playback until December 31, 2011

Again, if you are interested, click on this link to Shambhala's web page:

Online Retreat with Pema Chödrön

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What the Old Monk Who Was Tortured Told the Dalai Lama

"A few years ago, an elderly monk arrived in India after fleeing from prison in Tibet. Meeting with the Dalai Lama, he recounted the years he had been imprisoned, the hardship and beatings he had endured, the hunger and loneliness he had lived with, and the torture he had faced.

At one point the Dalai Lama asked him, “Was there ever a time you felt your life was truly in danger?”

The old monk answered, “In truth, the only time I truly felt at risk was when I felt in danger of losing compassion for my jailers.”

Hearing stories like this, we are often left feeling skeptical and bewildered. We may be tempted to idealize both those who are compassionate and the quality of compassion itself. We imagine these people as saints, possessed of powers inaccessible to us.

Yet stories of great suffering are often stories of ordinary people who have found greatness of heart. To discover an awakened heart within ourselves, it is crucial not to idealize or romanticize compassion. Our compassion simply grows out of our willingness to meet pain rather than to flee from it. "

Excerpt from "She Who Hears the Cries of the World"
by Christina Feldman, Shambhala Sun, May 2006.

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The Mind is Not Absolutely Nothing

"The fundamental reasons for the practice of meditation are that initially it pacifies mental suffering and eventually it also helps one deal with external and physical suffering as well. But you might ask, 'Does it do anything else? Does one actually generate any qualities or virtues through the practice of meditation?' The answer is yes. Although the nature of your mind is emptiness—which is to say, it is free of any kind of substantiality or substantial characteristic, and, in being empty, it is also free of possessing any ground or basis for the presence of inherent defects—at the same time, the mind is not absolutely nothing.

For example, in the Prajñápáramitá Sutra it says, 'No eyes, no ears, no tongue, no nose, no tactile consciousness,' and so on. And it goes through a list of all the things that one might think to exist - all relative truths that appear to us—and points out that all of them have no inherent, substantial existence and therefore are emptiness. But while it is saying that all of these things are emptiness, it is not saying that they are nothing whatsoever.

The true nature of things, that is their emptiness, is at the same time what was taught by the Buddha in the sutras as Buddha nature or sugatagarbha, which is to say that this emptiness, which is the nature of your mind, contains within it the inherent potential or seed of all of the qualities of Buddhahood. This means that although, when you look at your mind, you do not see anything substantial, nevertheless, the mind is not absolutely nothing."

From the Tibetan "Mahamudra Upadesha" by Tipola

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