Satisfied Buddhist - Domo Geshe Rinpoche

"Es gibt keinen Unterschied zwischen Dir und dem erwachten Buddha außer Deinen Wahrnehmungen" DGR"

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...

The knowing method of deciding whether something is true or not is often described as having some special feeling inside. This becomes more trustworthy as we do strong purification practices to gain clarity, then when we feel inside that is true, the inner mind resonates in a special way. However, ordinary unprepared inner mind basis for resonation often comes from earlier happy or unhappy experiences. As we learn from those experiences, we use them to build a non-verbal inner structure in order to establish the reality and validity of subsequent experiences. This is very normal thinking and careful thinking in everyday life. However, there are other factors influencing us in establishing criteria for deeper inner authentic life, the nature of reality. These are the very things we wish to establish beyond any doubt and wish to know intimately. Then, criteria of feeling inside or resonating in a less clear state of being might not be the most careful criteria for establishing tru...