Saturday, July 10, 2010

Dalai Lama - Try to remain in the natural state

HEALING ANGER:
The Power of Patience
from a Buddhist Perspective

by the Dalai Lama,
translated by Geshe Thupten Jinpa

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Dalai Lama Quote of the Week

Try to remain in the natural state. This is a bit like a river which is flowing quite strongly, in which you cannot see the bed of the river clearly. If there was some way you could put an immediate stop to the flow from the direction the water is coming from and the direction the water is flowing to, then you could keep the water still, and that would allow you to see the bed quite clearly.

Similarly, when you are able to stop your mind from chasing after sensory objects and when you can free your mind from being totally "blanked out," then you will begin to see under this turbulence of the thought processes a kind of underlying stillness, an underlying clarity of mind.

...At the initial stage, when you begin to experience the natural state of consciousness, it will be in the form of some sort of vacuity, absence, or emptiness. This is because we are so habituated to understanding our mind in terms of external objects that we tend to look at the world through our concepts, images, and so on. So when you withdraw your mind from external objects, it's almost as if you can't recognize your mind. There's a kind of absence, a kind of vacuity. However, as you slowly progress and get used to it, you will begin to see an underlying clarity, a sort of luminosity. That's when you begin to appreciate and realize the natural state of the mind. [Even though this is not a very profound meditative experience, it is the basis of stillness of mind.]

--from Healing Anger: The Power of Patience from a Buddhist Perspective by the Dalai Lama, translated by Geshe Thupten Jinpa, published by Snow Lion Publications

Healing Anger • 5O% off • for this week only
(Good through July 16th).


"Heartfelt Advice"
A Weekend Retreat with Author Lama Dudjom Dorjee
July 9-11, 2010
Namgyal Monastery Institute of Buddhist Studies, Ithaca, NY

In conjunction with his latest book, Heartfelt Advice.
For more information visit www.namgyal.org or call 607-273-0739.


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