Month: September 2015

Practicing Recognition

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An excerpt from the Mindfulness workshop given by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo in 1999

As a teacher, sometimes I’ve had the opportunity to bring a student to task, to say, “Look, you’re all spaced out.  You’re working hard, you’re going through the motions, but you’re not practicing.  There’s no inner practice happening here.”  The first thing that the student will do is get defensive, and the reason why they’ll get defensive is because they’re dancing as fast as they can.  A student will look at me and say, “Well, what the hell do you want?  I’m dancing as fast as I can.  In the way that I understand, I’m working real hard.” I won’t argue that with you, not for a minute.  You’re right. You’re dancing as fast as you can; you’re working really hard; but the difference is you are not practicing recognition.  Even if you spend two hours a day practicing and then you leave it to go live the rest of your life, that is still a state of non-recognition, and you are not truly practicing.

What is required here is a deeper understanding, a deeper awareness, and a more profound grasp of the realities that we are facing.  Once again, our habitual pattern is to say, “Oh, this person is doing this and that person is doing that and that makes this person like this and that person like that.” but the way to practice is to understand that these things we see are the all-pervasive faults of cyclic existence; this person that you’re seeing is like a bee in a jar, just hitting the glass, boom-boom-boom-boom-boom.  Does the bee know what’s going on?  The bee is trying to fly.  The bee is trying to do what bees know how to do, but being in a glass jar, like samsara, all it can do is bash its head against the glass.  There’s no way for that bee to figure its way out.  That is the condition of samsaric beings, and awakening to that recognition is really the only way that we can give rise to the bodhicitta, give rise to compassion.  Otherwise we are simply acting compassionate, which means, “I am the star of the show.”  We are still in that deeply deluded state.  We’re just acting differently, but acting is still acting.

© Jetsunma Ahkön Lhamo

Astrology for 9/3/2015

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9/3/2015 Thursday by Norma

Overdoing and overspending- both are possible today: demand exceeds resources. Beware of appeals to pride, a request for “more” is attached. Take a partner everywhere you go and ask for a second opinion: a single thought leads to a poor outcome. The Bible says, ” The intelligent man is always open to new ideas. In fact, he looks for them.” What’s good today? Entertainment, ceremonies, leaders increasing their energy and confidence, and a project coming to a successful conclusion. Work hard, have fun and go home early.

The astrology post affects everyone, according to where the aspects fall in your individual horoscope. Notice where the message impacts you today.

Paying Homage

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An excerpt from a teaching called The Seven Limb Puja:  Viewing the Guru by Jetsunma Ahkon Norbu Lhamo on October 18, 1995

Since we find that we are, in fact, in the presence of the primordial Guru at every single moment, what is the posture that we should take?  You should refer to the practice called the Seven Limb Puja.  The Seven Limb Puja appears in many different practices in slightly different variations, but it has certain common denominators, and these should be studied and looked at as a guide of how one should practice now that one is coming to understand that the eyes of the Guru are our eyes; that the heart of the Guru is our heart; that in our nature, that is the nature.  That is the nature, and we are indistinguishable in our nature from that.

 

Practicing in that way we should think like this.  First of all, in the face of the Guru, knowing that the face of the Guru is always with us, we should practice paying homage constantly.  Constantly paying homage to the Guru, this will antidote our pride, our ego, that habit that says, “Oh, well, look at that!  The Guru has faults.  He or she must be human.” And, of course, that is the statement that keeps you from practicing pure devotion and pure surrender, and the same statement that prevents you from achieving realization.  So this is the antidote that helps you to give rise to that spiritual posture that makes it possible for you recognize the nature of the Guruas the absolute non-dual display of emptiness and luminosity; and to give rise to profound devotion at last, rather than the superficial stuff that we’ve been passing out as devotion.

We practice paying homage.  We pay homage to the Buddhas and the Bodhisattvas; the Lamas are in that number.  The Buddhas and Bodhisattvas are all represented in the Lama.  We should think that we pay homage to the Buddhas because they have crossed the ocean of suffering.  Therefore, they are capable of captaining us across the ocean of suffering.  So we pay homage with that kind of regard, as though we needed to cross an ocean of suffering and the trip is scary and long and hazardous and difficult and so a qualified captain is required.  Otherwise, we can’t make it.  So that is the kind of recognition of the superior quality of the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, of the Lama.  Recognize every moment, this is a vajra command, that when we think of ourselves in our samsaric state and then we think of the Guru, we should think that the Guru is like a precious diamond, beyond compare, because the Guru is capable of helping us cross the ocean of suffering. We cannot do that ourselves.  That will antidote the kind of pride that we have when we try to put ourselves above everything, in subtle or gross ways, whatever it happens to be.

© Jetsunma Ahkön Lhamo

Astrology for 9/2/2015

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9/2/2015 Wednesday by Norma

Look outside yourself and confusing messages appear. Keep your eye on your own project and you’ll move along successfully. A stabilizing influence appears and restores order, allowing financial matters to go well. Henry David Thoreau said, “The greatest compliment ever paid me was when someone asked what I thought and attended to my answer.” Listen. What’s good today? Health and work progress nicely, leaders make good decisions and children and love are fun.

The daily astrology post affects everyone. Notice where the message contact your life., which will differ from others you know.

The Two Eyes of Your Practice

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An excerpt from the Mindfulness workshop given by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo in 1999

Guru Rinpoche himself said, “I will appear as your Root Guru,” and that appearance is to be recognized.  It demands to be recognized.  One of the reasons why I harp so much on reciting the Seven line Prayer is because the Seven line Prayer is a prayer, the blessing of which creates the capability of seeing the Guru in all things, and of following the Guru and of practicing in such a way as to discriminate that absolute nature.  The nature of that prayer is to begin to awaken our inner psychic channels and to bless our psychic channels and winds and fluids in such a way that everything within us that is the Buddhanature begins to awaken.  That’s the power of that prayer, and it is done through the practice of recognizing and discriminating what is extraordinary.  In order to provide for that kind of recognition, we have to put a lot more effort into that aspect of our practice than we have up until now.

Maybe I am giving you the impression that it’s all about Guru Rinpoche.  For me it is, but maybe that’s because I’m lucky enough to have had enough teachings to have an understanding of Guru Rinpoche’s nature.  When we talk about the nature of the Guru, we are talking about the perfect mating of wisdom and compassion, of emptiness and appearance.  When you see the image of Guru Rinpoche, you always see that staff crooked in his arm, and that is the symbol of his consort.  It indicates that the Lama is never separate from his consort, and the meaning of that is the non-duality and union of emptiness and appearance, of wisdom and compassion, or bodhicitta.  That is the meaning of that union of Lama and consort.  So Guru Rinpoche is always seen that way.  We are to understand from that, then, that His nature is the perfect union of wisdom and bodhicitta, of the view of emptiness and the understanding of the display of appearances.  That is Guru Rinpoche’s nature.

That being the case, we have to find a way to not only recognize the physical form of the Guru, the picture that looks like Guru Rinpoche or the picture that looks like your teacher.  We really have to get past that and go into a deeper sense of trying to awaken and potentiate our own meditation, our own understanding, of the nature of emptiness and of the nature of appearances.  We have to begin to potentiate and practice and meditate in such a way that we see wisdom and compassion as being like the two eyes of our practice.

Click here for a teaching on the Seven Line Prayer and audio files of Jetsunma chanting the Seven Line Prayer.

© Jetsunma Ahkön Lhamo

Astrology for 9/1/2015

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9/1/2015 Tuesday by Norma

A forward push both succeeds and fails, depending on your perspective.
Ceremonies, events and everything to do with fun- these go well. Attempts to decipher and unblock obstacles may or may not succeed. Sammy Farha said, “Just play every hand- you can’t miss them all.” This is a great day to tend to details, keep your eye on small victories and ignore confusing information. Love is grand and the better you look the better you feel. Dress up!

The daily astrology post affects everyone and will apply in whichever segment of life it falls. Look to see where you resonate with the message.

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