Scientific Support of Mediation Benefits

Starting back in 1987, The Dalai Lama has been hosting conferences of scientists in order to better understand the world and look into Buddhist teachings in relationship to western science. Underlying these efforts is the Dalai Lama’s contention that science can support many of the teachings and methods taught by the Buddhists for centuries.

My experience with Tibetan Lamas mirrors the Dalai Lama’s sentiments. They welcome scientific research. Everything from biological sciences to physics are being explored in relationship to Buddhist teachings.

Back in March 2000, the Dalai Lama held a conference looking at scientific research on the effects of destructive emotions. This conference is wonderfully summarized in the book “Destructive Emotions,” narrated by Daniel Goleman. A book I put on the “must read” list.

As the result of this conference, a scientific study ensued about the benefits of meditation. Using a functional MRI (fMRI), Dr Richard J. Davidson, PhD, began tests on monks and long term meditators. Their finding were beyond the western scientists’ expectations. The Tibetan Buddhists were not surprised in the least.

Based on the initial findings, scientific measurements of brain activity seemed to demonstrate that repeated periods of meditation significantly modified one’s brain activity. Long term meditation results in a happier person. (For detailed information see http://www.mindandlife.org regarding meditation, emotions, and neuroplasticity).

A number of science conferences being held in November around the country are scheduled to include the Dalai Lama. This includes an international neuroscience conference where His Holiness along with Dr Davidson and other researchers will present the findings of their ongoing research on meditation. Science seems to be supporting Buddhist teachings.

This is happening with some controversy from the small percentage of the scientific community.

I think that it is very interesting how this is creating an uproar among some scientist. Some of the controversy is being discounted as politically motivated by Chinese scientists. Other scientists are allegedly claiming that the findings are not thorough enough for presentation. However, I suspect that there are others also have hidden agendas. What would happen if they PROVE that Buddhist practices are true?

I think the controversy is a welcome event. First, the controversy is publicizing the conferences and the findings throughout many newspapers around the country. Second, it will likely spark for more research on the subject. Even if the research is being conducted in an attempt disprove the findings of Dr. Davidson, testing is welcome. Little do these scientist with hidden agendas realize that they are helping the researchers on meditation and Buddhism.

Throughout Buddhism, there is a tradition of questioning and challenging all teachings. Khenpo Choga Rinpoche has always said “If you have any doubts during my teachings, you should ask questions. There is no way to dispel your doubts and eliminate your confusion if you do not ask.”

Unlike many other spiritual practices, Buddhist has nothing to hide and welcomes challenges. Bring on the questions!

Many Dharma Blessings,

Geoff

The Benefits of Anger?

While I was waiting to have tires installed on my car today, I picked up a copy of "Ladies Home Journal." (I picked it up because there was an interview with former US President Bill Clinton. By the way, if we are going to change the rules of Presidency to allow Arnold to run, can we also change the rule to allow someone to serve a 3rd term?)

An article on Anger also appeared in the issue. I wanted to see what Ladies Journal would like to say on the subject. One of the points made in the article was that anger, when handled calmly, is good. Hmm! Anger is Good? Read on.

It seems that the western psychology world is confusing us with what some of them are saying. Anger is so much a part of our society, that I feel rather than discouraging anger they like to talk about "good anger vs bad anger."

On one hand the article talks about the dangers of anger. The article mentions the relationship between anger and our mental and physical health now being regularly studied and documented. Wonderful! Then later the article quotes a psychologist discussing how anger can be used to effectively as a call to action.

In Buddhism, anger and hatred are the most harmful pf the 5 negative emotions (desire, anger/hatred, ignorance, jealousy, and pride). A call to action is based on awareness. Anger is the negative emotion arising FROM not getting what we want or getting what we don't want. Seeing that something is not correct or needs changing is not anger. It is simply awareness of a situation. Granted, this is a subtle difference but extremely important to us. I can change something without ever feeling angry. This is certain.

Awareness + Acting on it = good.
Anger = not good
Anger + Acting on it = "super" not good!


The article concludes with some recommendations on allowing yourself to calm down, write down suggestions, and than present these to the other party. From our View, this psychologist is not talking about acting out of anger. He was talking about acting on the situation/circumstances which resulted in our anger arising. These are two very different situations and two very different states of mind.

It confused anger with awareness. The risk is that we end up in a society which encourages and supports anger instead of trying to eliminate it.

For me, I feel that this kind of discussion is very misleading. It is very easy to have readers walk away saying, "I read an article that said that anger is good for you." For me it is very easy for someone to conclude that anger is okay.

Elimination of anger does not mean that we stop taking action against injustice or wrongs. It does means that we avoid anger when we can. If anger arises, then do not take action when you are angry. It is not a call to be passive but to be aware and act with full awareness of the consequences of our actions.

So what are the benefits of anger?

To borrow the teaching of a past great master. "The only thing good about negative actions and emotions (in this case anger) is that they can be purified."

Maybe I will write on some of the methods of purification taught by my teachers tomorrow.

For today, I would just like someone reading this to know that anger is a negative emotion and has no place our awakened mind.

Many Dharma Blessings,

Geoff

49 Days After Dying

Especially within the Nyingma School of Vajrayana Buddhism, much has been written by the masters on Bardo Instructions for dying and death. There are many very good books on these teachings. I especially like the detailed explanations and background information contained in Francesca Fremantle's "Luminous Emptiness."

However, what came to my mind yesterday after the passing of Elvis, our neighbor cat to whom we were so close, is some oral teachings I had received. These instructions were directed to those of us who remain behind and were close to them.

According to our Nyingma and particularly Dzogchen teachings, after death there is a period of transistion. For as long as forty nine days, the deceased may remain in this transistional period. During this time, the deceased will experience may unusual dimensions, sights, and sounds.

Upon separation of their mind essence from the body, they often times are unaware of their own death. They retain a "mental" body and can spend long periods of time living and wandering within the environments that they are familiar.

What I asked of my family is to be aware that Elvis may not be aware of his own death. He could be still trying to spend his time exactly as he did when he was in his body. Obviously this is can be very confusing because everything is different for him.

What we can do, is to be comforting and understanding. Because of this, I keep out his water and food. I occasionally open the front door to welcome him in and will let him out. I will treat our home as if he is still somewhere in the house.

I want him to be comforted as he goes through whatever transistions he may require. I will do all of this quietly and not make a big deal of it. Afterall, I live here in the United States and there are many that would think that I had completely lost it. (Well maybe I have but I don't want everyone to know it).

After the death of someone close to you, you have the opportunity to provide comfort and assurance to them as they go through the transistion periods. Help as you can. Hold only good thoughts for them and send love and compassion. Send prayers for their swift transistion into the pure lands of luminous light.

Many Dharma Blessings,

Geoff

A tribute to Elvis

This morning we got a knock at the door. Our neighbors had come over to let us know that Elvis, their golden stripped cat, had past away in their front planter. We went over and inspected the situation. It looked like he was resting calmly on his side. It appears that he had died sometime early in the night.

Not long after our neighbors had moved in their house over two and a half years ago, Elvis had become part of our family as well. Our neighbors had another cat and a dog. Elvis did not seem to like enjoying the space with these other animals and decided that he would spend an increasing amount of time in our house. So while he was not our cat, he did live here most of the time.

I remember when Elvis started comming to stay. Every morning I wake up and go down to our Meditation room to do my morning practice. One morning while doing a mantra portion of the practice, I heard a screeching sound outside the door. I got up and found that Elvis was sitting at the door wanting to come in. It took about three more days before he decided to fully come in. Almost every morning thereafter, Elvis would come and sit with us during our morning practice. Then he would usually jump up on on of the couches in the meditation room and sleep for awhile. Elvis seemed to truly connect with something that was going on in the Dharma/Meditation room.

Elvis would travel around the immediate neighborhood. However, he was almost always the first to welcome me home from work. I think that he knew the sound of my car. Unless he was already inside the house, he would be waiting for me at the back gate and meow. He would then follow me into the house.

If he saw me sitting. Elvis always wanted to jump on my lap and moosh his paws into my clothes. When we would go out of town, sometimes for extended periods of time, he would be like glue by my side for the first few days after we returned. Elvis truly knew how to give love and was a wonderful friend to our whole family.

This afternoon, we are going to bury him in his own spot in the yard. We will perform a short ceremony for him, say our good byes and pray for his swift transistion into the pure land.

Elvis was always full of love and caring. I am certain that he had a connection to the Dharma and spent time benefiting from our practices. He also spent time with many masters who came to our home and gave teachings. Elvis was always around for the teachings. Most notably he took teachings from Khenpo Choga Rinpoche, Khenpo Sonam, and Tulku Choejor.

Elvis, we pray for you. Thank you for being part of our household. We will always love you and remember your kind heart.

Geoff

The Karmic Seeds of Our Thoughts, Words, Acts

Karma is a term used regularly but understood rarely. I think that this is because we have adopted the term in the West to refer to some kind "destiny" This is not true.

During the question and answer times of retreats, its one of those "always comes up" subject. I want to talk today about a small subsection of the subject of karma. I want to look a little into karmic seeds.

Every thought, every word, every action carries with it own power. It's propelling momentum. Taking momentum from what was just before and leading to what is immediately ahead. Khenpo Choga Rinpoche calls karma the "Power of our thoughts - the power of our thinking." At every instance, we have the momentum from the previous moment. At that moment we create the momentum towards the next moment.

(I want to point out that in fact there is not truly a connection between one moment and the next moment. It is only the momentum. We connect one moment to another just like connecting one frame of movie film to the next. The film is made up of one still photo after another. It only appears that there is a connection which comes out as motion.)

We carry the results of all of our past within our thinking. Unless eliminated, that remains part of our thinking - our mind.

This is what it referred to as the karmic seeds. It is that imprint from all past, thoughts, words, and actions. They can be positive, negative, or neutral. Every moment we are experiencing the karma of the past and are creating the karma for the future.

A master once said "If you want to understand the present look to your past actions. If you want to know about the future, look to your present actions."

Karmic seeds will either come to fruitition or they may be purified. This is very important distinction in the View of Buddhism. Nothing is set in the future. There is no predetermined destiny. There is the tendency of a pattern but always changeable. Never confuse this one. Otherwise, you are caught into thinking that Buddhism teaches predetermmined destiny - It absolutely does not!

Whether positve, negative, or neutral, the karmic seeds will eventually come to fruition unless they are eliminated. There is no statue of limitation. No expiration date to these seeds. It is important to remember that this applies to the postive seeds as well as the negative seeds. So be assured, your good deeds will always produce good seeds. (Just don't burn them up with negative actions).

Depending on the situation, we can speak of karmic seeds being purified, burned up, eliminated, destroyed, pr an assortment of other metaphors. All these terms are referring to the same thing.

Purification of negative karmic seeds is approached in various levels of Vajrayana Buddhism according to its their View and methods. Many of the tantric practices of the inner tantras are to purify negative karmic seeds.

The practice of Vajrasattva has its primary purpose to purify of negative karmic seeds of our actions, words, and thoughts not only from this lifetime but also past lives. For most Vajrayana practictioners, the purification practice of Vajrasattva is part of every day's practice. It may be short or extensive but it is usually there.

In the next writing, I will try to led off with karma comming to fruition.

For this discussion, I want to just stay with the importance of remembering that karma is created by every moments actions, words, and deeds. This karma stays with us like seeds waiting for the the right conditions to sprout. There is no expiration. However, the negative karmic seeds can be burned up, eliminated, or purified. There is not predetermined destiny.

Many Dharma Blessings,

Geoff

Cause, Condition and Circumstances

I still remember the day when I finally "got" the difference between the cause and condition and was then able to start looking into their relationship. It was like looking at one of those 3-D pictures made popular by Magic Eye, Inc. You keep looking and looking at first they make not sense. Then, all of a sudden, the hidden picture "pops" out. It’s right there and was always there. You just could not see it. You could not see the pattern.

For me, there were times when someone would give me some long and complicated discussion on emotions and it would not stick. I could not see the pattern. I could not get the picture. Finally, the right question came up during a teaching and my teacher explained to us what they meant by Cause and what they meant by Condition and/or Circumstances.

Cause and condition are commonly referred in one breath in teachings on karma, emotions, problems in life, etc. It seems that many teachers assume we know what they mean when they use these terms. I have found that many including me, really did not know what they were talking about. I want to use the emotion of anger to explain the difference and connection between cause and condition.

Let us say that I am driving down the highway anxious to get to movie. I am not late but I am quite focused on getting there as soon as possible. So right at this moment I am neutral emotionally...maybe a little anxious and excited. It is time for me to get over into the exit lane of the highway when all of a sudden a large 18-wheeler truck comes flying down the right lane. On top of that there is a very slow vehicle that has just pulled in front of me. I can't get over and have to slow down in order to avoid rear-ending the car in front of me. I become angry at how all of these people are driving tonight.

Anger is the emotion. However, what are the causes and what are the conditions?
The conditions or circumstances (really interchangeable terms) are the fact that I am on the highway trying to change lanes when these other vehicles prevent me from doing what I want to do.

The Cause is my thinking. The cause is always our Mind - our thinking. This is the bottom line. Cause = My Thinking! The conditions, the circumstances set up the situation for the emotional seed within us to sprout.

Why? Because there is nothing automatic about a truck driving down the road or someone changing lanes that creates anger. My thinking is the cause of the anger. It arose from my thinking only. Many different emotions could have arisen as the result of these circumstances. I could have laughed. I could have felt sorry for the slow driver. I could have realized that I have waited to long to change lanes. Oops! The 18-wheeler might have been just minding his own business driving under the speed limit.

The anger I experienced was not automatic and not part of the conditions or circumstances. I caused the anger!

A very important addition: If no seed of anger had existed within me, it would have been impossible for me to get angry. I see this in application when I spend time with a Vajrayana master. It seems that no matter what happens, they do not get angry, for example. Many Westerners like to allege that this is because they are hiding the emotion. But I can testify from my observation that the seeds of anger were not there!

There are two very important points that I try to remember:
First, I am always the cause of my emotions and feelings.
Second, it is not possible to experience an emotion when the seed do not exist.

Mind training in Vajrayana Buddhism is all about increasing the seeds of positive emotions and burning up the seeds of negative emotion. There are practice and methods to do this as well as practice to deal with a negative emotion once it "sprout." that part is a whole separate discussion.

The teachings of Vajrayana meditation master regularly refer to the cause and conditions of emotions, the cause and conditions of a situation. Every time I hear this I always remind myself that the "cause" is my mind and my thinking. Then the discussion makes sense. Remind myself: Cause = My Thinking.

Many Dharma Blessings,

Geoff

The Importance of Repetition

For my teachers within the Nyingma school of Vajrayana Buddhism, the preliminary practice (Ngondro) must be repeated many times before and student is considered ready to move on to other trainings and practices. The five sections of the preliminary are generally repeated at least 100,000 times.

This seems like a lot of repetition of the same thing. Afterall, I grew up in a culture where most of I would not even read all of my text books once, no less many times. In Buddhism, it is important to have more than just understanding. We must eventually get to the point where we realize. With time we establish stability with the realization until it become part of us.

I compare it to learning to drive a car. First we learn the rules. We spend time in training classes where the critical rules are repeatedly taught. One must absolutely know what a stop sign means or we really risk getting into real problems. Second, we then spend hours observing and practicing driving with an instructor followed by obtaining a drivers permit where we get more practice time. Eventually we are given the opportunity to obtain a drivers license after a written and driving exam.

Even then the training to be a competent driver does not stop there. Only after years of driving (hopefully) we become a competent driver. It is all of the small things that we learn and experience over time that provides us with the training to be a good driver.

The same is true in Buddhism. We cannot stop with reading a practice one time and then think that it is time to move on to something else. We must listen to teachings and learn a practice inside and out. Second, we need to have experience with the practice by working with the practice, contemplating what each sentence means. Finally, we need to gain stability in the realization of the practice with time and more repetition.

Hearing, reading, and studying a practice results in learning.
Contemplating the meaning of a practice and applying it results in experience.
Meditating on the practice results in realization.

So the repetition of a practice gives us the opportunity to fully learning the words and give us the opportunity to obtain some experience. There are stories of great masters who even at a young age were able to fully realize a teaching/practice and manifest signs of realization within a very very short period of time. However, it is probably not wise to think that we are part of this select group of masters.

I repeat my primary practice every day – at least once. It seems that every day, I learn or see something new that I had never understood before. This is even though I have done this particular practice daily for over three years.

Secondly, the teachings seem to have begun to become part of my thinking. All of a sudden something happens and I remember, “When I am troubled, I am happy to practice fearless peace.” Maybe, its working?

My teacher has told me that it is only over time that we can see if the practices are benefiting our minds and benefiting our thinking. I keep on training on the practice.

With repetition we are given the great opportunity to truly change our thinking. We are given the ability to remove our misunderstanding and the opportunity to be of great assistance to all sentient beings.

Many Dharma Blessing

Geoff

Different Paths for Different Thinking

One of the most wonderful and yet most difficult parts of beginning a Buddhist Practice is chosing a path. I personally went through many hours of searching, reading, testing and questioning. I think that maybe here in the West, we need a Buddhist clearing center which provides a resource for all of the different primary paths. Unlike other parts of the world, there are just too many choices.

This is a problem for us in the West. In most of the countries where Buddhism is the primary practice, one's family and the community generally dictates where one would recieve Buddha-Dharma training. You did not have to decide.

For me, everything settled down and became quite simple when I finally met a master who took a personal interest in my practice. Khenpo Choga Rinpoche from the Dzogchen Monastery in Tibet provided me a simple starting practice and told me to keep doing this until he told me otherwise. Well, Okay, that's simple enough. Now all I needed to do was to spend the time each day with the practice and see where it lead me.

Interestingly, even within a specific lineage and within even a specific Monastery, there are many paths. It seems that there is a recognition by the Buddhist masters that there are many paths according to the sentiment and disposition of student. Shakyamuni Buddha taught that there were 84,000 different Sutra practices and 6.4 million Tantras all leading to awakening.

As in the case of the Dzogchen Monastery in Kham, Tibet. There are at least three primary practice "paths" emphasizing different Sutra and Tantra practices as one progresses. The Monastery itself has its own specific teaching curriculum ending up at the designation of a master being a Dorje Lhopon. The Dzogchen Shri Singha Shedra (University), it seems, has a more academic curriculum culminating at the designation of Khenpo. The Retreat Centers of Dzogchen has another path of training and study upon which one can be recognized as a Mahayogi or Mahasiddhi.

So there is not fixed and defined path or curriculum that everyone must follow. In fact it ultimately ends up being a very personal path associated with the teacher-student relationship. Once you establish a relationship with a true lineage holding teacher, you just hang on and stick with it.

Each one of us has the opportunity to fully awaken, to attain unchangeable and indestructible happiness, and to help all sentient being attain such happiness. So my suggestion for myself and for all others is to rely on the advice of a lineage holder. Embrace your teachers' guidance and follow with all of your heart.

May all have the opportunity and fortune to meet their teacher and have the discipline to follow their advice.

Many Dharma Blessings,

Geoff

Commitment: Following Through on our Promises

Yesterday, I watch portions of the Senate hearings on Immigration Policies and Enforcement on C-Span TV. The most interesting part for me was the how each of the Seantors approaches the same set of issues from their own very specific set of concerns and beliefs.

The elder white haired statesman from Alabama was most concerned about why INS exceeded a cap on the number of Immigrants that the Congress had set for this category of visas. Issue: You should follow our rules: Spend your time enforcing the rules!

A certain Senator from Illinois then laid out a scenario about a Korean girl who had lived in the United States since the age of 2 and has been "illegal" for 14 years in the US. Now 17 years old, she has been accepted at Juliards. Upon an inquiry to INS by the Senator on behalf of the family, he has been advised that this girl must return back "home" to Korea. Issue: We need to work toward fixing such inequities and laws. Where the enforcement of a law results in unfair or unjust treatment, then make exceptions and change the law.

There are two very different views here.

The series of questions and answers continued on with each Senator's questioning reflecting their specific constiuents and issues.

I guess the system works. Through the process of each Senator working for what they feel is important and each Senator respresenting the sentiment of a percentage of the US population, the "will of the people" slowly but surely progresses.

The best representatives are those with a passion to follow throughon what they say they are going to do. We might not agree with their point of view but their determination and commitment to do what they need to do is commendable.

What has remained with me from watching this, is the reminder to follow through on my intentions and commitments. If I do not carry the responsibility to do what I promised, then who will?

The same rules apply to my commitment to my practices. So today, I renew my promise to
prevent negative thinking
never surrender to obstacles
never abandon my Dharma practice and
continuously help all beings to awaken.

Many Dharma Blessings,

Geoff

The Effect of Positive and Negative Thinking

I recently came across a wonderful metaphor which seems to have stayed within my thinking (not that it always stops the frantic or negative thoughts form arising but it helps stop them from growing)

This actually comes from a teaching of Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche on the "Heart Treasure of the Enlightened Ones by Paltrul Rinpoche."

Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche reminds us that one negative thought, statement, or action while very small can be like a spark in dry grasses of a forest. That one small spark can burn down the entire forest.

Further, he reminds us that our good thinking may be small but is like a drop of water into a bucket when combined with many other drops soon fills the entire bucket.

Many Dharma Blessings,

Geoff

Support for my Thinking

Within most forms of Buddhism, there is training in meditation which instructs us to sit calmly. Our bodies are relaxed but stable in this meditative pose.

Within in many lineages of Buddhism, including Vajrayana, there is much time spent with the reciting of sadhanas (essentially practices) and mantras. Reciting are a large portion of Vajrayana practice.

The question is often asked why are the meditative sitting and the recitation of mantras important in Vajrayana practices.

As my teachers have told me, the importance is that the body and speech support the training of the mind (our thinking).

The body can support the mind and thinking 25%.
Our speech can support the mind and thinking 50%.

Since we are yet fully in control of our body, speech, and mind; we should take advantage of those activities which can help us progress in our practice and support our good and positive thinking.

When we recite mantras, we have the opportunity to focus our mind on the sacred sound of the mantras. I have been told that mantra actually means "protection" in Tibetan - mind protection. Reciting the mantras have been said to protect our thinking.

The protective nature of the mantra only occurs when we fully give our attention and intention to the recitation. Additionally, there are visualizations to be done with the mantras which adds further support to our thinking.

So you do not have a mantra? A very simple and effective mantra is available to everyone. It is the recitation of "Namo Buddhaya."

The term "Namo" is a sanskrit word of respect, "I pay my whole hearted respect to...." The use of "Buddhaya" is again sanskrit refering to Shakyamuni Buddha, as our teacher and guide, but also refering to the the fully awakened state, the original nature of our and all sentient beings' mind. So by reciting this mantra while sitting, we are focusing our mind on that fully awakened and peaceful mind and focusing on Shakyamuni Buddha whose words and teachings points us in the right direction to become fully awakened.

Namo Buddhaya,

Geoff

Taking a 10-second Break

Negative emotions and their affect on us as well as those around us is an often discussed issue within Vajrayana Buddhism. There are many ways to deal with these. Everything from practices to completely eliminate them to various methods to stop and remove them once they arise.

One of my favorite is also a very simple method of meditation. We will can call it the 10-second awareness meditation (even though it could last 10 minutes, 30 minutes, or even longer). The method is very simple. It is not very difficult to do either.

So let's go back for some background. Meditation and meditative practices are a critical part of Buddhism. It is through meditation that we ultimately gain experience and realization of the teachings. The hard part, especially for us westerners, is to calm our thinking, to learn to focus for periods of time.

The 10-second meditation is meditation method to quickly calm the mind if even for a few seconds. Sometime this is all that is needed. Change focus and change the thinking's direction and pattern. I is meant to do throughout the day as often as possible.

One does the following. Stop everything that you are doing. Whether you are sitting at the kitchen table, waiting in a line, our lying down. Just stop all activity. Take a break. No talking. No movements. No worries. No pain. Do nothing. Even stop breathing in or out at first.

It is like putting yourself into a moment of "freeze." Then relax into that state.

Then slowly begin to breathe again. Listen to the sounds around you. Look at everything that is around you. Smell the fragrances in the air. Slowly go back to whatever it is that needs to be attended to. As much as possible remain in the calm mind that began in the meditative break.
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It is good to practice this and do this often BEFORE you get caught in the start of nervous or anxious thinking. Its like everything else in life: You must practice first. It is necessary to have some stability and comfort with the method. Like learning a martial art, one must practice a strike many many times before one has to use it. Same here. Practice the 10-second meditation.

Over time, more and more time is spent within this calm state of mind. Less time is spent outside of this state. As Khenpo Choge Rinpoche once said, "When you find that all time is spent in the calm mind state....well, that is Enlightenment!"

What I fond most helpful is that it is very simple. You can do this almost anywhere (Not recommended to start it while doing things such as driving a car). With some practice, it can immediately Break a pattern that is beginning to arise.

(For those that want the term for what is being done here, it is going into the state of "Rigpa." I just was avoiding the technical terms.)

Many Dharma Blessings,

Geoff

Why do I practice?

It seems there are many different reasons why we come come Buddhism.

"I want peace of mind."
"I am looking for a spiritual practice without all the guilt trappings."
"I want to get out of this rat race"
"I need to better deal with [ ] in my life." (You fill in the blank)

There are many reasons. Ultimately, I feel the reason is the same for everyone...as for all people and all spiritual paths:

"I want happiness. I do not want suffering."

The teachings and practices of Buddhism are a very direct approach to this wish. In fact from the very first teaching of Shakyamuni Buddha, he taught the path to be free of suffering and the path to true happiness.

Eventually, with some practice we move to:

"I want YOU to be free from suffering. I want YOU to be happy."

We discover that the path to our own happiness is by directing our actions, words, and thoughts towards continually helping all sentients beings to be happy and to be free from suffering. First, though, we need to calm our own thinking some.

Recently, I recieved an email from someone interested in learning more about Buddhism. They had commented that they just wanted to be free of the negative emotions that they often experienced. They were not so concerned with becoming Enlightened.

Here is the secret. Enlightenment really means to become Fully Awake. Once we are fully awake, we are free of suffering and are completely available to help all sentient beings be free of suffering and for them to have happiness.

Becoming fully awake is to become free of suffering and to fully aid all sentient beings to be happy. So it is the truly best wish for yourself and others to Fully Awaken: Enlightenment is in fact your goal.

So, now back to the first question. Why Do I practice?

To help all sentient beings Awaken: For all beings to have complete and unchangeable happiness and be free from suffering.

And how is the best way for me to accomplish this?

For me to become fully awakened so that I am able to help all beings.

When is the best time for me to Practice? Every moment and every thought, all day!

(I still have a long way to go, mind you)

Many Dharma Blessings,

Geoff

My Wife is My Teacher

Far from Enlightened, I travel through each day trying to keep my Buddhist - Dzogchen practices fresh in my mind. However, it takes very little to throw me off and set me right down in the middle of this crazy world.

For some years, I have attempted to keep track of my better thinkings, record the meaningful stories, and remember the valuable lessons. Better yet, I feel, is if I could just apply some of the wonderful teachings that I have received over the years from great teachers....Then I just go and get caught up in the shit of my daily life. Hmmm!

I think that my wife is definitely my best guide. I could never fool myselfinto thinking that I really "knew" anything to teach others because she always (softly) reminds me each time I am not thinking, speaking, or behaving in a compassionate and loving manner. You know, she can catch me in even the tiniest moment of anger or frustation. I really really try to hid these little fits and bursts but she knows.

She will say "You are getting mad."

"No, I am not. Everything is just fine! I was just asking ...." I respond.

But really....I was getting mad. Oops!

Well, Here we go. Hope that during the journey someone, somehow, somewhere, might enjoy the thoughts posted here.

Rather than attempting to expound on technical Dzogchen View and Dharma, here I am going to just lay out one Western Practicitioners (likley corrupted) views on what is going on.

Many Dharma Blessings