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Category: Spiritual

  • Suchness

    In Buddhism,the word “suchness” is used to mean “the essence or particular characteristics of a thing or a person, its true nature.” Each person has his or her suchness. If we want to live in peace and happiness with a person, we have to see the suchness of that person. Once we see it, we understand him or her, and there will be no trouble. We can live peacefully and happily together.

    When webring natural gas into our homes for heating and we know the suchness of gas. We know that gas is dangerous – it can kill us if we are not mindful. But we also know that we need the gas in order to cook, so we do not hesitate to bring it in to our homes.The same is true of electricity. We could get electrocuted by it, but when we are mindful, it can help us, and there is no problem, because we know something about the suchness of electricity. A person is the same. If we do n o t know enough about the suchness of that person‘, we may get ourselves into trouble. But if we know,then we can enjoy each other very much and benefit a lot from one another. The key is knowing a person’s suchness. We do not expect a person always to be a flower. We have to understand his or her garbage as well.

    Reference: Peace Is Every Step p. 68-69 by Thich Nhat Hanh

  • Our Life Is a Work of Art

    After a retreat in southern California, an artist asked me,“What is the way to look at a flower so that I can make the most of it for my art?” I said, “If you look in that way, you cannot be in touch with the flower. Abandon all your projects so you can be with the flower with no intention of exploiting it or getting something from it.” The same artist told me, “When I am with a friend, I want to profit from him or her.” Of course we can profit from a friend, but a friend is more than a source of profit. Just to be with a friend, without thinking to ask for his or her support, help, or advice, is an art.

    It has become a kind of habit to look at things with the intention of getting something. We call it “pragmatism,” and we say that the truth is something that pays. If we meditate in order to get to the truth, it seems we will be well paid. In meditation, we stop, and we look deeply. We stop just to be there, to be with ourselves and with the world. When we are capable of stopping, we begin to see and, if we can see, we understand. Peace and happiness are the fruit of this process. We should master the art of stopping, in order to really be with our friend and with the flower.

    How can we bring elements of peace to a society that is very used to making profit? How can our smile be the source of joy and not just a diplomatic maneuver? When we smile to our- selves, that smile isnot diplomacy; it isthe proofthat we areour- selves, that we have full sovereignty over ourselves. Can we write a poem on stopping, aimlessness, or just being? Can we paint something about it? Everything we do is an act of poetry or a paintingifwe do it with mindfulness. Growing lettuce is poetry. Walking to the supermarket can be a painting.

    When we do not trouble ourselves about whether or not something is a work of art, if we just act in each moment with composure and mindfulness, each minuteofour life is a work of art. Even when weare not paintingor writing, we are still creating. We are pregnant with beauty, joy, and peace, and we are making life more beautiful for many people. Sometimes it is better not to talk about art by using the word “art.” If we just act with awareness and integrity, our art will flower, and we don’t have to talk about it at all. When we know how to be peace, we find that art is a wonderful way to share our peacefulness. Artistic expression will take place in one way or another, but the being is essential.So we must go back to ourselves, and when we have joy and peace in our selves, our creations of art will be quite natural, and they will serve the world in a positive way.

    Reference: Peace Is Every Step p. 39-40 by Thich Nhat Hanh

  • Meditation and Wisdom

    Fellow students of the Way, be careful. Don’t think that meditation comes first and then gives rise to wisdom or that wisdom comes first and then gives rise to meditation or that meditation and wisdom is separate.

    The Platform Sutra
    by Hui-Neng translated by Red Pine

  • Realising our full potential

    Realising our full pontential

    Realising our full potential – Saturday 18th May – Day Course Retreat

    To achieve true happiness, we must understand what is holding us back and learn to develop the mind to achieve its full potential. In this day course retreat we will look into our life purpose and learn practical methods to overcome obstacles and to achieve our deepest wishes. Kelsang Tubchen will teach and Kelsang Lobon will guide the meditations.

    Please book in advance – Thank you!

    The Clear Light Kadampa Buddhist Centre
    St. Kongensgade 40H, st. tv.
    København K
    Denmark

    Details, price and booking:
    Realising our full potential meditateincopenhagen.org

    NB! Guest teacher Kelsang Tubchen who is the principal teacher in Oslo will also be in Copenhagen on the 17th. of May for the evening event “Food for Thought” which includes a meditation and meal in a peaceful and open environment!

  • The great Way has no gate

    The great Way has no gate;
    There are a thousand different roads.
    If you pass through this barrier once,
    You will walk independently in the Universe.

    The Gateless Gate: The Classic Book of Zen Koans
    by Yamada Koun

  • The Heat of Movement The Coldness of Stillness

    Generally speaking, when people are active, this gives rise to heat; when people sit quietly, this gives rise to cold. When one is cold, if one moves about this will again produce heat. When one is hot, if one sits still this will again produce coldness. In other words, cold and heat do not depend on the weather but on the person.

    What I realize as I observe this is the Tao of taking over the creativity of yin and yang. That which is strong is associated with yang, that which is yielding is associated with yin. If one is strong but not aggressive, humbly lowering oneself, then one will not be irritable but will be peaceful, and equanimous. If one is yielding but not weak, deliberate in action, then one will not be ineffective but will ascend to high illumination.

    Able to be strong, able to yield, according with truth and with the time, knowing when to advance and when to withdraw, able to be great and able to be small, able to stop and able to step down, able to be passive and able to be active, one can thereby take over Creation, turn around life and death, reverse the mechanism of energy, leave death and go to life. This is like activity producing heat and quiet sitting producing cold; human power can reverse nature.

    Awakening to the Tao Liu I-Ming translated by Thomas Cleary

  • One heart

    Can you polish your mysterious mirror
    And leave no blemish?
    Lao Tzu

    There is never been a single thing
    Then where is dust to cling?
    Huang Po

    Joining hands
    One heart.
    You and Me

  • I am eternally present

    I am eternally present.

    There is nothing to do.

    Nowhere to go.

     

  • Living Together

    When we live with another person, to protect each other’s happiness, we should help one another transform the internal formations that we produce together. By practicing understanding loving speech, we can help each other a great deal. Happiness is no longer an individual matter. If the other person is not happy, we will not be happy either.To transform the other person’s knots will help bring about our own happiness as well. A wife can create internal formations in her husband, and a husband can do so in his wife, and if they continue to create knots in each other,one day there will be no happiness left.Therefore, as
    soon as a knot is created, the wife, for example, should know that a knot has just been tied in her. She should not overlook it. She should take the time to observe it and, with her husband’s help, transform it. She might say, “Darling, I think we’d better discuss a conflict I see growing.” This is easy when the states of mind of husband and wife are still light and not filled with too many knots.

    The root cause of any internal formation is a lack of understanding. If we can see the misunderstanding that was present during the creation of a knot, we can easily untie it. To practice mindful observation is to look deeply to be able to see the nature and causes of something. One important benefit of this kind of insight is the untying of our knots.

    Reference: Peace Is Every Step p. 67-68 by Thich Nhat Hanh

  • Real Love

    We really have to understand the person we want to love. If our love is only a will to possess, it is not love. If we only think of ourselves, if we know only our own needs and ignore the needs of the other person, we cannot love. We must look deeply in order to see and understand the needs, and of the person we love. This is the ground of real love. You cannot resist loving another person when you really understand him or her.

    From time to time, sit close to the one you love, hold his or her hand, and ask, “Darling, do I understand you enough? Or am I making you suffer? Please tell me so that I can learn to love you properly. I don’t want to make you suffer, and if I do so because of my ignorance, please tell me so that I can love you better, so that you can be happy.” If you say this in a voice that communicates your real openness to understand, the other person may cry.

    That is a good sign, because it means the door of understanding is opening and everything will be possible again. Maybe a father does not have time or is not brave enough to ask his son such a question. Then the love between them will not be as full as it could be. We need courage to ask these questions, but if we don’t ask, the more we love, the more we may destroy people are love. True love needs understanding.

    With understanding, the one we love will certainly flower.

    Reference: Peace Is Every Step by Thich Nhat Hanh

  • Know your Self as That

    Robert Spira

  • Decompartmentalization

    We have so many compartments in our lives. How can we bring meditation out of the meditation hall and in to the kitchen,and the office? In the meditation hall we sit quietly, and try to be aware of each breath. How can our sitting influence our non-sitting time? When a doctor gives you an injection,not only your arm but your whole body benefits from it. When you practice half an hour of sitting meditation a day, that time should be for all twenty—four hours, and not just for that half-hour.One smile,one breath,shouldbeforthebenefitofthewholeday,not just for that moment. We must practice in away that removes the barrier between practice and non—practice.

    When we walk in the meditation hall, we make careful steps,very slowly. But when we go to the airport or the supermarket, we become quite another person. We walk very quickly, less mindfully. How can we practice mindfulness at the airport and in the supermarket? I have a friend who breathes between tele- phone calls, and it helps her very much. Another friend does walking meditation between business appointments, walking mindfully between buildings in downtown Denver. Passersby smile at him,and his meetings, even with diflicult persons, often turn out to bequite pleasant, and very successful.

    We should beable to bring the practice from the meditation hall in to our daily lives. We need to discuss among our selves how to do it. Do you practice breathing between phone calls? Do you practice smiling while cutting carrots? Do you practice relaxation after hours of hard work? These are practical questions. If you know how to apply meditation to dinner time, leisure time, sleeping time, it will penetrate your daily life, and it will also have a tremendous effect on social concerns. Mindfulness can penetrate the activities of everyday life, each minute,each hour of our daily life, and not just be a description of something far away.

    Reference: Peace Is Every Step p. 34-35 by Thich Nhat Hanh

  • A Simple Prayer

    A Simple Prayer picture
    Saint Francis of Assisi’s Simple Prayer

    Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.
    Where there is hatred, let me sow love.
    Where there is injury, pardon.
    Where there is doubt, faith.
    Where there is despair, hope.
    Where there is darkness, light.
    Where there is sadness, joy.

    O Divine Master,
    Grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled, as to console;
    To be understood, as to understand;
    To be loved, as to love.
    For it is in giving that we receive.
    It is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
    And it is in dying that we are born to Eternal Life.
    Amen.

    St. Francis

  • You Deserve Enlightenment

  • Meditation as a great Art

    Krishnamurti saw meditation as a great art, “perhaps the greatest.” One must learn this art by practicing without technique—watching oneself: in daily activities (walking, eating), practices (speech, gossip), reactive emotions (hate, jealousy)—becoming aware of these things “without any choice.” Many forms of meditation have been invented to escape conflicts. These forms, according to Krishnamurti are “based on desire… the urge for achievement,” implying conflict, and a “struggle to arrive.” This striving, he saw as “within the limits of a conditioned mind, and in this there is no freedom.” True meditation is “the ending of thought,” leading to “a different dimension… beyond time.” Thought and feeling “dissipate energy.” Their repetition is mechanical, and, while necessary, do not permit one to enter the “immensity of life.” Meditation is the “emptying of the mind of the known.” It is not thought, nor prayer, nor “the self-effacing hypnotism of words, images, hopes and vanities” all of which must “come to an end, easily, without effort and choice, in the flame of awareness.”

    Reference: Jiddu Krishnamurti meditation wikipedia.org