Satisfied Buddhist - Domo Geshe Rinpoche

The brain is only a processing unit, the mind is in the heart! A monk was challenged to drink whiskey, kill a goat, or have relations with a woman, all were against his monk vows. He thought the whiskey was the lesser sin of the three and drank it. While drunk, he killed and ate the goat and had relations with the woman. Even you not a monk, there are small non virtues that can damage your values and good qualities. Guard your mind with kindness and don't rise to inappropriate challenges ~ Domo Geshe Rinpoche ~~~ "Ein Mönch muss sich entscheiden Das Hirn ist nur ein Verarbeitungszentrum. Der Geist wohnt im Herzen! Ein Mönch wurde dazu herausgefordert Whiskey zu trinken, eine Ziege zu schlachten oder sich mit einer Frau einzulassen, was alles gegen s ... ein Mönchsgelübde verstieß. Er dachte, der Whiskey sei das kleinste Übel von den dreien und trank ihn. Als er betrunken war, tötete er die Ziege und aß sie und ließ sich mit der Frau ein. Selbst wenn Du kein Mönch bist...

What could possibly motivate someone to renounce everything for the dharma? I know it has twelve letters, but somehow, renunciation has become a four-letter word for spiritual people. Because of that, teachers coming to the West rarely use the word renunciation anymore. Why is that? How can the lamas who arrive to teach about enlightenment, read from the old texts, (which is a lot about renunciation) and yet are concerned to mention renunciation? Could there be something about the word ‘renunciation’ that creates the opposite effect of the meanings of the texts to people in the West? Unskillful renunciation means to renounce what you already possess and now you have to give up. The other unskillful meaning is something you really want that has to be given up even before you get it. Both of these meanings are untrue and renunciation has a bad reputations in the West. A nameless student, one who was very interested in spiritual development sent me a frantic letter, “ Rinpoch...

In the previous column there were discussed some of the ways people make changes to become more receptive to truth. Taking ordination vows is an extreme example as well as deciding to dedicate the rest of ones life to a hermit’s existence or perhaps living in a cave. Others will seek vows such as bodhchitta vows to energetically bind themselves to achieve the transformed state. However, there are methods we can put in to practice even today and one is to simplify. We could make things easier by giving away what is not used, needed or enjoyed anymore so that there are fewer objects that we need to control, care for, think about or even dust regularly! Even today, I took a carload of things over to Goodwill, so I feel quite happy about that. Another way to simplify is to watch how we spend our precious leisure time and make quality time management decisions to begin or sustain a regular meditation practice. Another obstacle that often confronts sincere seekers is reading about the l...

From the previous column it was said that angst can become a generalized frustration or anger about life and specifically stressful because of not being able to do what we want. That is why this energy needs to be directed or channeled carefully so that we do not move into the dysfunctional next step of blaming others. We so often hold others responsible for our lack of time or life situation, or complain that others are preventing us from being a spiritual seeker or truth seeker. We might view people at work that seem to be thwarting us or we become sorry that we have no time because we have to earn a living. It becomes all the fault of others. This can accumulate and we can forget exactly what it was that we were trying to do, namely, break free. This can lead to the uncomfortable situation and its accompanying feelings self replicating into habitual bad moods. Caught up in our feelings of blaming and the objects of that blame, we can lose sight of our actual inner process int...

So, there are different levels of Buddhas. There are also different classes of Buddhas, and different vows and promises and specializations as you might guess. If we think about the myriad beneficial activities of the buddhas and bodhisattvas, there must be some kind of overarching motivating principle that has a penchant for organizing and creation dharmic specialization fueled by the needs of sentient beings. There are formal vows taken by high level beings bestowed by even higher level Buddhas or self taken promises to achieve certain results for themselves or others in need. The experiences and tendencies that come from these vows also produce further activity. For example, Vajrasattva, the Buddha of purification took vows and made promises to help living beings purify. Green Tara and White Tara, have different specializations, different kinds of vows and promises for activities from each other as well as different than Vajrasattva. So it is not just their interest that produc...

The 24-hour Mahayana vows are a pratimoksha vow connected to the vinaya or ethics branch of Buddhist path. Before you seek the ceremony it is good to understand what are the vows and commitments. This is a commentary recorded during the ceremony for a group of students who requested the vows. This was done at a special retreat because it is easier to fulfill the mindfulness of the vows in a more structured environment. Certainly it is also possible to hold the vows and go to work and have a busy day. September 21,2002 before dawn You will be taking a vow of non-harming today until tomorrow morning, meaning not taking life. To the best of your ability you will be very careful where you step so you do not harm even any insect. If you go outside, be careful where you step and consciously think, “I am a holder of vows. In that way, I am harmless”. Not harmless in the ineffectual sense, like, “Oh, do not worry about him. He talks bad, but he is harmless,” but true harmlessness, a develo...