The Best Buddhist Writing 2010 - Melvin McLeod [85]
So this kind of struggle is pervading almost every aspect of life. There are times when we are on the meditation cushion, where we are looking very holy, perfectly spiritual, and we are feeling blissed out. But sometimes we are so ordinary. We are talking on the phone, shouting loudly. We are quite angry at someone. It is amazing how many roles we go through in everyday life. When we sit on the meditation cushion we are very holy. But when we are driving our car in traffic, talking on the phone, and somebody cuts in front of us, we become very reactionary. We may even start cursing. We don’t look at all like the guy who was sitting peacefully in meditation a few hours ago. The idea is that there is always struggle. There is always struggle in different forms. There is struggle when we are meditating and there is struggle when we are not meditating, as long as the self is being perceived as real. When the self goes away, then we are already in paradise and there is nothing to do. There isn’t anything to do and there isn’t anything to acquire. So this should be our mantra for the rest of our life: No self, no problem. Keep this in mind: No self, no problem.
I know that in our deepest heart each of us has strong faith, real longing, and undying aspiration to go beyond the self. But at the same time there is a way that we also might allow ego to buy time. Ego is very afraid of its complete demise, so it tries all kinds of methods and strategies to buy time and postpone. If it cannot do anything else, at least it can always postpone. So it keeps postponing and postponing complete liberation. Therefore, we always have to be mindful about that and pray to remove all hindrances from our path. The hindrances on the path are actually ego’s resistance to complete liberation. That is the ultimate hindrance. So we pray to go beyond all the hindrances and obstacles that ego casts on us, so that we can be awakened as soon as possible and so that everybody else can be awakened as soon as possible too. We must realize that the wisdom that lies within each of us can transcend all hindrances. That requires an act of empowering ourselves. Let yourself be a peaceful warrior. We are all born peaceful warriors. There is nothing to fight against outside. The peaceful warrior is the spiritual hero who conquers inner adversaries by the force of pure consciousness.
The Art of Awareness
Dzigar Kongtrül Rinpoche
Dzigar Kongtrül Rinpoche is a modern Tibetan lama. He is married, lives in Colorado, uses the Internet as a teaching tool, and is an avid painter. This is on one hand an essay on painting and the creative process, but on the other a traditional and powerful Dzogchen teaching on riding mind’s energy and play.
My interest in Western art has a lot to do with my own meditation practice. Though Buddhist meditation and abstract art may seem like an odd combination, the practice of meditation and the practice of abstract painting are actually complementary.
As Buddhists, we are taught that the natural state of mind is pristine and enlightened in itself. To embody this view of the natural state, first we need to work with our mind through discipline. In our meditation practice, sometimes we are present with this experience of the natural state and sometimes we are not. When something pleasant arises, we often grasp at it, and when something unpleasant comes, we may reject it. Our discipline is to transcend these grasping and rejection tendencies that cause us so much suffering.
Over time, as we feel more self-confident and secure in our practice of meditation—and in our understanding of the true nature of mind pointed out by our teacher—we will see that the true nature is pristine and stainless. In the traditional analogy of the ocean and its waves, it is said that however large or small the waves, all are essentially made of the element of water and cannot