Satisfied Buddhist - Domo Geshe Rinpoche

We continue the discussion on cogitation meditation from yesterday. This meditation technique and energetic is like an enfoldment or unfolding of thinking. Rather than looking, thinking, adding more ideas to the thought, you are waiting in encouragement while this enfoldment is drawing forth elements that need to be viewed and understood. This ability only comes with steady practice so not much more needs to be said about this for now. The cogitation meditation results are gathered into realizations. These minor breakthroughs are characterized by the arisal of a new state of mind or new thought patterns. These minor breakthroughs and new states of mind could also be attained by removal of a difficult state of mind or difficult dynamic. With that removal, a careful ingredient that was previously hidden from the meditator becomes exposed. Something you might have already developed in a previous time; this life or another life was hidden by another dynamic. For example, this becom...

Before Tibetan teachers came to America, there were Buddhist teachers of other traditions; the Zen tradition, as well as from Sri Lanka, Burma, Viet Nam, and other places, who came to the West to teach. Even one hundred years ago, there were Buddhist teachers who came to America telling people about the nature of peace and goodness. They shared their cultural adaptations of ancient Buddhism and told the story of Lord Buddha Shakyamuni's enlightenment, so the transmission of Buddhism is not something that has just happened recently. Before Buddhism came to the West, it went from India to China, Japan, Tibet, as well as many other countries. How marvelous, how wonderful that the sayings and teachings of Lord Buddha Shakyamuni were preserved and written and made available in recipe form for 2,500 years. That is a very long time to maintain and preserve a lineage of teachings. Part of the recipe for enlightenment is contained within the preservation and dissemination of the teach...

I have been thinking about cooking lately and looking through my recipes trying new combinations. Living out in the countryside as I do, surrounded by hay fields and mooing cows off in the distance, getting  exotic ingredients is impossible. I often substitute what I have, lots of fresh eggs, goat and cow milk, and herbs from the garden for ingredients that we can only order on the Internet. While digging in the cupboard to make something new, it occurred to me how very similar meditation is to cooking. Over the next several days I would like to share my musings with you. You know, in Tibet, I do not recall that we ever followed recipes, but perhaps that was because I never cooked. In the monastery, we ate the food provided and upon arriving in America in the mid 70’s, I discovered creativity in the kitchen that made me somewhat famous with my students at that time. Some even encouraged me to write a cookbook. However, It is only here in my new life, since May of 2000, that...