The following prayer was taken from the Nam Cho Daily Practice from Palyul Ling International:
I pay homage to the continuously present and unmodified nature of pure presence (rigpa).
I offer the clear light, freedom from depths and limits.
I confess within the vast expanse, the equality of samsara and nirvana.
I rejoice in the great wearing out of reality, freedom from conception.
I ask you to always turn the Wheel of Dharma, the great perfection,
And to churn the depths of samsara,
Free from the limiting three conceptions, I dedicate this to reaching the far limit.
Venusian behavior- diplomacy, tact and affection- is your best bet for happiness today. Fill your speech with special kindness and consideration; it’ll be fun, a mental stretch for you (“How can I say this nicely?”) and a source of unexpected happiness for others. Ashley Jensen said, “I’ve made this conscious decision to tell people on the street when I think they’re wearing something great. If more people did that, the world would be a better place.” The demands of work are a factor today, but don’t be too busy to be nice. What’s good? Clearing up past issues, spending for a good cause and carefully avoiding problems by continually changing strategies. If you meet a roadblock, take another road!
The astrology post affects everyone differently, depending on individual horoscopes. Look to see how this message affects you today!
A happy surprise leaves everyone smiling and delighted. Fun is on the menu today and you must be outside or in a bright, colorful place to find it. A parade, a celebration or a party beckon. You’ll spend more than you wish, but don’t put a price on the happiness this brings to others. Men and women are not on the same page, and leaders are not in sync with their followers; they’ll say something expecting applause and be greeted by silence or boos! Huh? Respect is an issue today, offer it to everyone you meet. Lao Tsu said, “See yourself in others.” What’s good today? Pleasant, diplomatic words, an exciting opportunity, stability and happiness.
The astrology post affects everyone differently, depending on individual horoscopes. Look to see how this message is reflected in your life today!
This is a good day for travel and it’s important to dress your best and to look your best as you go about your business. First impressions determine your success today. Money and ego come together negatively so avoid impulse purchases if possible, you’ll buy the most expensive item to impress someone and regret it later. Appeals to your vanity are the red flag, run if someone starts saying “Savvy people buy…”. Kim Hubbard said, “The safest way to double your money is to fold it over and put it in your pocket.” What’s good? A happy frame of mind, pleasant companions and moving out of your normal routine. Try something different today!
The astrology post affects everyone differently, depending on individual horoscopes. Look to see how this message reflects your life today!
It’s easy to hear Dharma, if you have the merit. It’s easy to keep a record of how many teachers we have sat in the presence of. It is much harder to change, to remain where we are and to deepen. It is harder still to rely on the advice of our Spiritual Master rather than on our own prideful, rigid, ordinary ideas.
The path of Dharma must renew for us a profound, living presence in our lives. It should never become stale or stiff, nor should we allow our minds to become hard, rigid or prideful. We should hold our hearts and minds in a confident posture of trembling, joyful expectancy. Then the path becomes our treasure, our food, our refuge. Then, gradually, we transform into that most precious jewel, the aspirant who actually gives rise to the Bodhicitta, who makes love and compassion a living presence in the world. This is the answer to all our longing.
May the power and potency of Dharma fill your lives. May virtue prevail. May compassion be born in our hearts and devotion nourish our minds, pouring forth to all sentient beings who remain in samsara. May they be liberated from the very causes of suffering. And may it be soon; may it be today. May samsara be emptied. Lord Guru, of the suffering of sentient beings, there has been enough. I dedicate all virtue I have accomplished, in this and every other lifetime, past, present and future, to this end.
The void of course moon signals aimless, undirected activity for most of the day, so don’t break your heart expecting to accomplish something. This is a day to go with the flow, to watch sunsets, lounge peacefully and engage in beautification projects. Venus is strong and she rules beauty and pleasing, relaxing activities. Get a haircut, spiff up your wardrobe, paint a picture, be artistic in your expression. Kahlil Gibran said, “When Life does not find a singer to sing her heart she produces a philosopher to speak her mind.” Aim for beauty and elegance when you shop: choose the prettiest
food, the most colorful items. Sidestep political or sectarian talk, you’ll just upset yourself.
The astrology post affects everyone differently, depending on individual horoscopes. Look to see how this message reflects your life today!
Let’s say you have become satisfied with an idea of what a practitioner should be. You are quiet, meek, gentle, and ever so passive. You attempt to be pure by never adorning your face, hair or body. You do what you think is right. Fine. But what if you stop there? What if you allow days, weeks, years, your whole life to pass by with no true sense of the need to eradicate hatred, greed and ignorance from your mindstream? What if you have no real understanding of the emptiness of phenomena? No true perception of the nature of mind? What have you really accomplished? What is yours to carry with you? How will you enter the afterlife state, the bardo? Will you not see as you have always seen? Will you not see the events within the bardo state as external phenomena? Will you not be excited, afraid? Will you not still be lost in the delusion of self and other?
On the Vajrayana path, true purity, true virtue is central and precious. Even one moment of true perception of the nature of mind is the only conceivable virtue. If you merely live according to the rules, you will definitely have merit. But in terms of the value of your own nature, your own mind, you will not have the purification that leads to true perception. The Vajrayana path is unique in its perspective on this. It adopts the morality and rules of the Hinayana path, as well as the Mahayana perspective of compassion and purity, yet it goes further into the understanding that true perception is the thing of value—the diamond.
The goal of the Vajrayana path is to realize the nature of mind. The nature of mind is absolute compassion. At that primordial-wisdom level, there is no good or bad. There is clear, uncontrived, pure, self-luminous nature. Primordial mind is unborn, yet perfectly complete. It is unmarked, un-measured by time or space. It is self-arising. True virtue is not a way of acting. Nor is it a way of thinking—as most people understand thought. There is only one real virtue: the realization of primordial mind. Naturally arising within that realization is a deep and abiding compassion—a compassion that is capable of manifesting in any form necessary in order to bring true benefit to beings.
Please understand that primordial mind itself is not filled with hatred, greed and ignorance. This is simply not possible. The mind is forever pure. It is unchanging. It cannot be defiled in any way. What then is the problem? Where is the defilement? Not in mind itself, but in perception. The real value of practicing on the Vajrayana path is that you are involved in a system by means of which your mind can arise with all the pure qualities of the Buddha. Think, for instance, of Buddha Vajrasattva. This is the practice of a Buddha who is the perfect union of wisdom and compassion. He represents that phase of mind as it first moves into manifestation from the primordial level. The pristine connection between the primordial nature of mind and its transition into an activity phase is not separate from that basic nature.
The urge to eat, stay home and feel secure predominates today, so avoid things that cause uncertainty. Be aware that people need mothering; if you meet a cranky, unhappy person do your best to offer sympathy and understanding. Anonymous said, “See a complaining person as a crying baby, in need of attention.” This is an excellent day to shop, engage in successful work, come up with a new creative proposition and to cook. Mercury retrograde cautions against buying machines or signing contracts. You may, however, buy something you have considered previously and have come back after thinking it over.
The astrology post affects everyone differently, depending on individual horoscopes. Look to see how this message is reflected in your life today!
An excerpt from a teaching by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo from the Vow of Love series
Where does desire come from? It comes from the belief that self-nature is real. According to the Buddha, if you believe that you are a self, if you believe in self-nature as being real, as being truly existent, then there has to be desire, because in order to be a self or to have a self, you have to define a self. That’s how it is. If you believe in the nature of self, you have to have an underlying belief that self ends here and other begins there. You have to have some conceptualization in your mind about what the self is, because the idea of self cannot exist without some definition. Conceptual proliferation develops, and with that, desire.
Desires are not always fulfilled. There is always the contest between self and other, and from those contests the three root poisons of hatred, greed and ignorance occur. It is the presence of hatred, greed and ignorance in the mind that causes phenomena to appear as they do. If there were no hatred, greed and ignorance in the mind, there would be no cause for suffering and therefore we would not see the phenomena of war, hunger, old age, sickness and death in the world. There would be no cause. This is the understanding and commitment that you should think about and work with in your mind.
The most pleasing planet, Venus, is making great aspects now so be Venusian; go around smiling, blowing kisses and expressing good will to everyone. Use this energy in all your interactions and you won’t go wrong! Diplomacy and congeniality succeed where assertion fails. The hidden assumption that people who disagree with your ideas are invalidating you is part of the mix today, so be as agreeable as possible. Helen Gurley Brown said, “Love doesn’t drop on you unexpectedly; you have to give off signals, sort of like an amateur radio operator.” Spend the day spreading good will in all your activities, the more you do the happier you’ll be. Compliment telephone sales people before you hang up on them. (“I love you, please take me off your list.”)
The astrology post affects everyone differently, depending on individual horoscopes. Look to see how this message reflects your life today!
