Memory is a Fiction

Memory is a not very useful fiction because at best it is a fuzzy photo of an event, and at worst, a fantasy that does not touch the experience of the past. That is what we want, an authentic connection to our past. Memory does not offer this and in addition, robs us of the opportunity to experience the present. ~Domo Geshe Rinpoche ~

""Die Erinnerung ist eine nicht sehr nützliche Fiktion, weil sie bestenfalls ein unscharfes Foto eines Ereignisses ist und schlimmstenfalls eine Phantasievorstellung, die das vergangene Erlebnis nicht einmal berührt. Aber was wir wollen ist eine authentische Verbindung mit der Vergangenheit. Die Erinnerung bietet uns das nicht und beraubt uns außerdem der Möglichkeit die Gegenwart zu erleben." - Domo Geshe Rinpoche ---"

Comments

Post a Comment

I appreciate your comments- find a minute or two (for members of this blog) to share your views

Popular posts from this blog

Buddhist musings... and meanderings

Image
Like other litigious societies, we have become over-doctored and looking for that magic pill to make us well and feel satisfied. Perhaps it would be better to consider stress, lack of closure to poor past relationships, anger or jealousy as causes for our poor health... and then correct our errors. ~ Domo Geshe Rinpoche ~ "Wie andere prozessfreudige Gesellschaften verlassen wir uns zu sehr darau f, medizinisch überversorgt zu werden und halten nach der magischen Pille Ausschau, die uns befriedigt und gesund macht. Vielleicht wäre es besser, Stress, unbewältigte Beziehungen, Wut oder Eifersucht als Ursachen für unsere schlechte Gesundheit in Betracht zu ziehen.... und dann unser Fehlverhalten zu korrigieren." - Domo Geshe Rinpoche --- Sharing happiness is actually what is done in the dharma practice of the first of the Four Great Wishes. This trains us to share our cultivated joy and not simply hold it as a personal possession. The second of the Great Wishes strong
Read more

Mental Sinking in Meditation

Image
Mental sinking is an obstacle in meditation and the opposite of mental excitement. The mind wants to drift in a certain way so some antidote needs to be applied. Sometimes the mind drifts and like a little butterfly you dreamily fly to a flower, then think, “Oh, there is another nice flower over there. I think I’ll float over there and look at that.” This is done in a languid way, as though you were about to enter a dream state. Mental sinking could also be the experience of heaviness in the body that is about to enter sleep. Sometimes from the far corner of the monastery we could hear snores coming from a monk and then everyone begins to titter. One of my American students was not feeling so well one day so she lay down behind the last row of students, and in fact she did start to snore. You not have cold weather here in California, but people who come from cold cold weather know there is real danger in being exposed to extreme cold and begin to feel sleepy. If they cannot arouse the
Read more