Satisfied Buddhist - Domo Geshe Rinpoche

We need a new ways of relating to refuge beyond the fear of rebirth and birth in lower realms refuge. As a practitioner matures there will be many different forms, stages and development of deeper refuge. One aspect of refuge is based on knowledge of what will benefit and what will harm. These discriminative realizations can be approached in various methods. Traditional debate uses true refuge as reliable syllogisms and basis for other knowledge in combination with other verified truths. This is a spiritual scientific approach to refuge. Science is a method of testing and measuring to arrive at conclusions that will forward other hypotheses. The quantification of the world; length, height, depth, weight and on to probable locations of electrons is an important collection of information and knowledge. Then there are people who seek knowledge so they can learn to talk to flowers. There are many kind, well meaning people, who study hard and collect information toward the quantification ...

There is a way of placing the mind so that the one moving the unhappy self-referent mind has another more careful reference. That reference helps one enter into higher spiritual society. Just think of all the people walking the streets of New York right now who would enjoy being in high New York society with the movers, shakers and shapers. They would love to be with the artists, philosophers, planners and decision makers who are sitting and drinking champagne with each other in some penthouse on Park Avenue. Many walking the streets looking for a place to be with others feel a desire to move among high society, feel that they are good enough, yet they have no way to get in because they don’t know anyone. They only know what they know themselves and what a few friends that get together to discuss sports at the local bar inform them about. So they continue to remain on the streets while high society associates with each other as well as accomplishes things that they could only hope to a...

Science now affirms that we are made from energy. So, it must be true also for others, who seem so solid. It is felt that there is communication going on energetically between us and others. Energy, which is centered in a location is not limited to boundaries of the human body. This is how and why we are able to feel moods from others. So if we observe life from an over active root chakra we might be both broadcasting and tuning into the root chakra energies even though they may not be directing energetic messages. We often misjudge the intentions of others because of what is going on inside us. Because there is always energy tuned in to a particular vibrational level, consciousness is unconsciously communicating. Sometimes, without intentions of causing sensual disruption, attempting to inflame others sexually. or looking for a fight, others might misunderstand. Something like this actually happened to me one day in New York City, my just before, when I was in my male Tibetan body...

This morning I was watching the predawn sky while visiting a friend in New Mexico. The beauty of the scenery framing the dawn; mountains, olive tree and even the gold cat sitting in the tree between me and the dawning sky could not distract me from my primary energetic need to orient myself. Remembering for the millionth time that the sun comes up in the east, I thought, “If that is in the east then I must be in the west.” An unusual feeling flowed over me like an inner mental stumble caused the entire dawn watch to fade as I turned my attention toward the cause of that energetic shift. My training in yoga and logic caused a different dynamic to arise, a studied curiosity that is without emotional content. In other words I actually did not feel a desire to know but compelled to review. As a human being, my sense of direction orientation is centered here in my consciousness. If that is so, then truly I can say that the sun is in the east just below the horizon. However, the task of orie...

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...

Some buddhists are trained to bring a cloud of unknowing to their meditation each time they sit down to meditate. Some meditation systems teach them to trick or in some way to double back on their own mind so that a certain feeling arises fresh and unknowing, and within that cloud of unknowing they can potentially arise as an enlightened being. This technique is not used in our Tibetan system. In Tibetan Buddhist system we are trained to affirm that indeed I am the practitioner and I am the one who creates a particular state of mind. I, by my own efforts will cause a particular state of mind to arise. In this way we are able to incrementally change the mind during each meditation session. We are training in logic, motivation, and yogic technique to follow the reproducible effect of enlightenment. The teachings of the Buddha affirm this and our system of bringing beings to the enlightened state is famous in efficacy. Many people have a karmic spiritual nature that naturally effervesces ...

Today I tell you a true story about two tiny little, skinny old Tibetan ladies dressed in their best clothes standing in a crowd waiting for his Holiness the Dalai Lama to pass by in his automobile. They arrived late and found themselves standing all the way at the back of the crowd with all of these nice tall people like you guys standing in front of them. Everyone is looking up the street waiting for the car to arrive except the old ladies. They can’t see what’s happening because they’re only maybe 4’10,” very tiny. Their desire to see His Holiness must have been fueled by their concern that they we so old this might be the last (or only) time to see him. However, Tibetan people are not aggressive, or we can say not in holy situation by shouting, “Let me through, let me through.” Most of the people were Indians or Western people so shouting at them in Tibetan would not have worked anyway. So, what these two old Tibetan ladies did was just lean gently on the person at the very back, a...