Category: 2024 spiritual

Abu Ullo
Just a kid
Renounced
Defilement
Of a world
Confining
In small
Nor big
Homes
To be free
In universes
And planes’
Existence
Within
And out
Manifest
Reality
As it is
Just bare
Necessities
Auspicious
To benefit
Eventually
Awakened
Impartial
To what is
True here
Just a kid
Little monk
Changchup
Benchung
Abu Ullo!
གྲྭ་པ་ཆུང་ཆུང་།
བྱང་ཆུབ་

“Thö-gäl” — instantaneous arrival

From an enlightened vagabond དཔལ་སྤྲུལ་རིན་པོ་ཆེ

Patrul Rinpoche: “When you’re eminent, it’s bad. — When you’re reviled, it’s good. — When your position is lofty, vanity and envy flourish. — When your position is lowly, you’re at ease and your practice can flourish.”

In Tibet, to this day, many dedicated practitioners renounce not only worldly affairs but… renounce involvement in monastic affairs as well. They give up all involvements, not wanting to “renounce a small home only to get caught up in a big one.”

— Enlightened vagabond, the life and teachings of Patrul Rinpoche, Matthieu Ricard, pp. 9 & 225

Patrul advised Nyoshul Lungtok: “Study all philosophical systems without bias. Bias creates distorted understanding. When you study all teachings impartially, you will know what is true and what is not, you will know what is profound and what is not, you will know what accords with… wisdom… From then on, understanding will come through your own insight.”

— Wonderous dance of illusion, Khenpo Ngawang Palzang, p. 102 (or above p. 227-228)

Each sunset enables the sun to rise again

May you, we, and all be auspicious!

Rinpoche
Recognized
Continuation
From past lives
Some importance
That happened
And still does
Here ‘nd now
Sweet title
And face
To behold
Good karma
Contained
Within
No word
But spirit
Blessings
Touch heart
Then, let go
Personality
Claims a god
To be adored
And giving
Of oneself
To everyone
Listening
May all
Be well
And happy

“Rinpoche déjà-vu chant” — for recognition and deliverance

A word of profound wisdom

Generally, to have faith in anything will bring benefits accordingly. The benefits obtained by the practitioner do not depend on the excellence or lack of it of the objects of faith, but only upon the individual’s mind and the quality of his faith. Thus it is very important to have what is known as the attitude which views all appearances as pure (dag.snang དག་སྣང་ in Tibetan).

— The Dzog-ch’en innermost essence preliminary practice, “Long-ch’en Nying-thig Ngön-dro”, by Jig-me Ling-pa, translated by Tulku Thondup, p. 48

A famous quote of the Buddha

As a star, a hallucination, the flame of a lamp,
An illusion, a dewdrop, a bubble of air,
A dream, a flash of lightning, a cloud,
Consider the world of phenomena.
This life is as fleeting as an autumn cloud.
Observing the birth and the death of beings
Is like watching the movements of a dance,
A life is similar to a flash of lightning in the sky,
It quivers by, and it rushes down,
Like a stream on a steep mountain.

— La méditation m’a sauvé, Phakyab Rinpoche and Sofia Stril-Rever, p. 18

अवलोकितेश्वर Avalokiteśhvara sand mandala

A larvae
As human
Mammals
Biologically
It seems
We are.

So what will
We become
Metamorphing
Eventually
In time?

Our turn
Now spent
As caterpillar
Then actually
In a cocoon
Encased
Silent.

Finally
Will we
Emerge
A butterfly
Or as beetle
An ant or bee
A mosquito
Or a tick?

It’s all here
Right now!
Have a look
And choose
Your stance.

“गरुड़ Garuḍa” — puja for the celestial hawk

Old Tibetan wisdom from Milarepa and Surya Das

Milarepa to Gampopa, one of his main students, after the latter announced his intention to discard his maroon monastic robes and adopt the white cotton dress of Milarepa instead: “Don’t copy others! Each one of you must follow your own spiritual path.” Then Milarepa sang a song, explaining the original monastic state — detachment, surrender, simplicity, solitude . . . recognition of the truth of egolessness. Milarepa concluded, “Heal yourself… then you will naturally heal others. My teaching is mine; yours must be yours. Do whatever is necessary in order to evoke it from within.”

When we know who we are, we know where we fit in the cosmic pageant. Each of us is like a link in a chain; by knowing what we are, we know what we are a part of, and our individual existence assumes greater meaning.

Things are not exactly what they seem to be — nor are they otherwise. Even if we may feel far from any sort of divine reality, we can rest assured that the ultimate or absolute is never far from us.

Everyone has his or her own religion; everyone believes in something. Young children believe in everything.

Celebrate the inherent freedom and sacredness of authentic being.

— The snow lion’s turquoise mane: Wisdom tales from Tibet, Surya Das, pp. 188 and 246-251

A post-larvae Coleoptera — option to co-operate with a lion

— Karma —
Cause and effect
Action and reaction
What flourishes
And what wilts
In our own garden
And the world around
In our relationships
Attitudes and moods
Views and convictions
Our families and friends
Communities and nations
Species and worlds
Observable reality
What grows or declines
In our own space, most of all
And considering others too
To learn and understand
What’s shared, what not
For we’re here together
At times we like it, or not
Either way, do I love or hate
This makes a huge difference
To let things grow or decline
Nurture the love — or not
While in this dual realm
Aiming for relative unity
Recognizing common ground
For some things grow, others don’t
In the cycles of life, we come and go
Like everyone’s garden and plants
Many do grow and flourish well
While some wilt and rot away
Ultimately all will fade out
When their time is over
Thus I embrace what grows
And I embrace what wilts
Nurturing what I can
And let go the rest
Sooner or later
All in its time.

Thus we work with karma
Observing cause and effect
Learning to understand
New life and death
Every day a new
Consciousness
Unfolds
In love
Alive!

“Vajra bridge buzz” — rainbow light body karma

A few inspirations from old Tibet

Vimalamitra: “Until you have realized the unborn and undying nature of reality, do not transgress the moral precepts. Until you are totally beyond duality, be meticulous regarding actions; act conscientiously and with compassion. To undertake wrathful activity prematurely and act like a siddha [Sanskrit सिद्ध ‘perfected one’] without having realized how to liberate oneself and others is a crime against […] non-violent teachings. When you know how to deliver the dead directly to the blessed [heavenly] fields, then you are free to do as you will.”

Kumaradza passes away: “Do not indulge in endless idle chatter and searching. [You] have … all the teachings you need for enlightenment in this lifetime; what else could you possibly need? For those of you who have not yet resolved your doubt and uncertainty, more practice is required, not more discussions!” He would say no more.

Vairotsana — the Cuckoo’s cry of awareness: “The many never stray from oneness; all things are beyond concepts regarding them. All created things are beyond the mind-made duality of good and evil. Since everything is perfect and complete in itself, beyond the disease of effortful striving, one remains effortlessly absorbed in primordial presence.”

Padampa Sangyay: “That which is nothing at all, transforms into myriad forms. When one recognizes the single essential nature through all its manifestations, non-duality is grasped.”

— The snow lion’s turquoise mane: Wisdom tales from Tibet, Surya Das, pp. 170-177

How did that cloud get its golden color?

No fake news please
Such a terrible misuse
That shoots one’s feet
Reveals bad attitudes
Plain condemnation
And obvious refusal
Of most other views
Or working together
With decent respect.

Detach from ego
A clear necessity
For survival here
To de-personify
Oneself and God
Dissolve all borders
Between you and me
Nature and the divine
Let go of identification
One pretty big challenge
However long practiced
With dedication to life
Love, light, and sound
You may call it spirit
Tao, Qi 氣, the force
Present here now
In every moment
To relish reality
For it is that it is
The pure potential
And that’s good news!

“It is that it is” — and that’s good news!

No fake news, a rainbow body in Tibet

While carrying out his daily work, the old man continued his spiritual practice, integrating meditation with activity through continuous mindfulness. His son, a monk, often advised him to perform more formal spiritual practices: to sit in meditation, do yoga, and so on. However, this did not alter his father’s habits.
“Intrinsic wakefulness is the main point, my son,” he told the earnest monk. “Simply try to maintain lucid awareness of intrinsic awareness itself, the natural state of being…”
Three years before his death, the old man fell ill. Though the family fretted, he himself appeared increasingly happy. Rather than chanting the traditional Buddhist liturgies, he sang original songs of spiritual praise. Performing no rites or rituals, reciting no mantras, repeating no sutras or prayers, he seemed to have entirely abandoned all forms of ceremonial observance.
When his son, the monk, again exhorted him to devote himself to religious practices, the old man replied, “There is no external Buddha worth worshiping. The innate wakefulness of intrinsic awareness is one’s primordial nature.”
As his illness became increasingly serious… his son reminded him that this was the most important time to recall all the Dharma teachings he had received. The old man simply smiled and said, “Son, I have forgotten religion. Anyway, there is nothing to remember! All is illusory, yet I am happy — everything is prefect!”

— The snow lion’s turquoise mane: Wisdom tales from Tibet, Surya Das, p. 132

It is that it is — a world of utter beauty