Satisfied Buddhist - Domo Geshe Rinpoche

We must think often and deeply why we are attracted to Buddhism. This will help us hold our mind in enthusiastic effort (one of the six perfections) when natural boredom sets in. The debilitating influences that create boredom: our own karma, poor companions, laziness and disappointment. A feature of Buddhism is just this: the remedies for the ordinary mind when it becomes unspiritual in daily li fe! ~Domo Geshe Rinpoche ~~~~~ " Wir müssen oft und tief darüber nachdenken, warum wir uns vom Buddhismus angezogen fühlen. Dies wird uns dabei helfen, unseren Geist an enthusiastischer Anstrengung festhalten zu lassen (einer der sechs Vollkommenheiten), wenn sich natürliche Langeweile einstellt. Die lähmenden Einflüsse, welche Langeweile erzeugen sind: unser eigenes Karma, schlechte Gesellschaft, Faulheit und Enttäuschung. Eine Eigenschaft des Buddhismus ist genau das: er stellt die Heilmittel für den gewöhnlichen Geist bereit, wenn dieser im Alltag unspirituell wird!...

Social Buddhism, Cultural Buddhism, Personal Journey Buddhism, or Traditional Practitioner Buddhism... what type are you? In my opinion, social Buddhism is like pop culture, a bit of Buddhism incorporated here and there to keep up with friends who discuss psychology based ideas. Cultural Buddhism - many who are raised Buddhist (usually from Eastern countries) have an innate confidence in Buddhism like inculcated family values others receive in early childhood. Eastern teachers often have sorrow that those who were not raised in Buddhist families have a disadvantage by having to mechanically add Buddhism to their value system and is not energetically present. On the other hand, just like those who complain that they do not get enough from their Christian roots, often the cultural Buddhist  does not continue to evolve and does not delve into Buddhism as a personal path of awakening. Their practice remains immature, with a faith that is uncultivated. P...

Act natural! This traditional Buddhist advice means stop pretending/being pretentious with others and yourself. Be honest with others and yourself. Don't be indulgent with mental states that you know to be harmful. Relax the mind and body while holding virtue. It might seem complicated, but with practice, we can act natural, bringing ourselves and others great joy! DGR

" Advice to the monastics... All I am saying is that I really do not want the White Conch monastics to work outside jobs. It does not mean this week or next week or next month. You think it could not possibly be so, but I promise you it can be so, but to make it work, we all have to pull together, mainly in food costs, fuel costs, electricity, etc. We do not have to live fancy. We should not live fancy. It is not good for us and makes us weak and incapable. Instead, this is how they did it when ordained monastics lived in caves or lived in monasteries; they were not expected to have comfort. They were expected to be there to learn how to be strong. Too elegant or too luxurious makes you weak. It also makes you feel that everything has to be perfect around you, otherwise you cannot function and be really you, and that is not true. This does not mean that you do not have any possessions at all. In India, at my before monastery, many monks' tiny rooms looked like some kind of a s...

Most Buddhist symbols in our world have deeper meanings such as dorje or bell, eternal knot and traditional auspicious designs. Part of your inner mind structure is already attuned to a more symbolic language even if uncultivated toward the awakening state. Perhaps you you have seen, in a vivid dream or even in waking life, a triangle or circle, or another compelling symbolic form hanging in the air, almost hypnotically holding your attention. We cultivate and use seed letters extensively in Tibetan tantric practice. We deliberately attune to that developing inner mind of the symbolic realm strongly, but you do not have to be Buddhist to have that inner, more subtle mind already alert. In other words, it is a world of form, but very unlike the world of form in which you exist in the human realm. There are many symbolic form subtle expressions, even mathematical. Have you seem the mathematical world? It is very interesting." ~Domo Geshe Rinpoche ~~~ "La mayoría de los símbolos...

This evening is a bit unusual; we are in the middle of an inocular eclipse, a rare type of eclipse. If we were in the optimal viewing place, which I understand is San Diego; we would be seeing a ring around the sun. The moon moves between the earth and the sun creating a ring around the sun. Earlier today I went to the lumber store. There was an elderly gentleman and his wife there outside explaining about the inocular eclipse. He set up his telescope and turned it backwards to display the eclipse on a piece of paper. I stopped, looked at the paper on the sidewalk and at the eclipse in the sky. As I looked back at the paper, it felt like the image projected was not on paper but the original sun, moon event occurring very far away. My perception had bridged a gap between the appearance and the actual event that felt interesting. The newspapers encouraged my perceptions regarding the importance of this event. Earlier, at the height of it at about 6:30PM, I went outside. There was def...

There are ordinary good wishes for others and then there are the extraordinary wishes. There already exists a wonderful buddhist model for an extraordinary wish for every living being to realize boundless good qualities. “May all sentient beings have happiness and the cause of happiness” This is the wish that desires to lift all living beings away from self-centeredness toward true happiness and freedom. It also lifts us toward the optimistic view that affirms and implies that living beings are truly capable of realizing those boundless and timeless great qualities. Our own personal qualities and ability to actually grant or to wish good qualities for others depends completely on our stage of development. Sometimes it might feel just like when we were small, creating a magic wand from a twig or toilet plunger and happy tapping everyone turn by turn. “Now you are happy”. I knew a little boy who would tap people on the head if they had a cold and he would say, “Now you’re ok.” I have see...

A discussion arose quite recently; a friend asked us what was our favorite day of the week. Another dear Buddhist friend responded quickly “I hate Mondays!” We looked at each other and recognized something important had just occurred. Perhaps it sounds illogical from an ordinary point of view but I felt actually frightened. Not just the bursting out but it was apparent that there was depth of his considerable character that was involuntarily involved. B casually inquired, “Did anything nice ever happen to you on a Monday?” Enemy of Monday thought, logically impossible that no good thing ever happened on a Monday. “Yes, I agree that some nice things did happen on Mondays.” I entered the conversation. Yes, I was filled with Buddhist disappointment that my friend felt hate and at the same time a rise in inner energy was perceived as excitement or even feeling as a kind of glee. I was in debate mode. “Ahem, among the nice things that happened, did anyone give you something special on a Mon...