Satisfied Buddhist - Domo Geshe Rinpoche

In the longer tantric sadhanas, we visualize ourselves as a Buddha and perform a short period of activity with that perception. Although in a more formal language, we next say, "But I know I am not there yet." Again, we do prayer, offerings, confession, and purification followed by entering into another lofty visualization. It is not similar to, "Okay, I visualize myself as a fully enlightened Buddha, and that is that! Now, and forever I am fully awakened." In fact, sadhana recitation carefully contains “reality checks.” In tantric practice, you move from visualization of yourself as a Buddha to a reality check, realizing that that the full qualities are not yet present. After practicing the position of seeing yourself as a fully developed, omniscient and omnipotent Buddha, you then state, "Well, ah hem, not quite there yet, but if I confess and purify, then I am coming closer to Buddhahood." Back and forth and back and forth you go; weaving and strengthen...

I was in Mumbai, India several years ago, accompanied by a number of students on our way to His Holinesses teaching. Since it was my first time in South India, we walked around Mumbai for a while. We came upon a large number of Tibetan sweater sellers with their knitted wares displayed in the open air off a busy street. They began to crowd around me and my two students, wanting me to bless their babies, their sweater businesses, as well as telling me their sufferings. It was an intense experience with cars whizzing by. Finally, I had to be taken away because too many people were crowding in. One Indian man followed me, imploring my helpers to be allowed to talk to me. They were saying, “No, now Rinpoche is finished,” but he was so insistent that I finally said to let him talk. He said, “You know, 16 years ago, I saw the God light!” I said, “That’s very good.” But I could also see this man was a bit disturbed; not only had he seen the light, but he could never get back to the light no m...

It is a sign of falling away from a higher mental state to begin to long for our ordinary habitual state. It is normal to begin to feel out of place in the very experience that we have worked so hard to gain, because we have created more causes for ordinary mind than advanced ways of perceiving. Lack of closure for incomplete but still curious energies would be like remembering that there was something cooking on the stove, and a kind of bump calls us back to our ordinary state. The longer we practice daily meditation, the more "karma" we will create in higher states that will not only allow us to remain longer, but will invite us to participate in higher being! However, pushing or struggling to remain beyond our capacity will cause the experience to "morph" into a fantasy relationship with higher being, and again we are only talking to ourselves! ~Domo Geshe Rinpoche ~~~ Es una señal de alejamiento de un estado mental superior para comenzar a tiempo el que nuestro ...

Those in activist communities, or their supporters have a special challenge to remain calm, stable and composed while struggling with what is wrong or actively trying to make change happen in society. For them, equanimity and activism seem to be at odds, in their enthusiasm to make change happen quickly. According to my research, one philosophical view is stated as; “equanimity is the manifestation of equilibrium attained in terms of comprehension of the diverse human emotions. It is the state in which an individual associates identically not only with every emotion, but also with the associated dynamism. This is the commencement of culmination of an individual spiritual journey toward liberation.” I do not agree or endorse this definition, because of the underlying attitude of false superiority displayed. Perhaps it is an atypical viewpoint. Although the unnamed philosopher is stating that it relates to an individual spiritual journey toward liberation, the method seems to make arro...

We have a small riding mower tractor at the Hermitage and my specialty is mowing the grass. I enjoy getting on that noisy little mower and go round and round making the landscape look nice again. Because we are out in the countryside, there is quite a lot of grass to cut, so I am getting a lot of experience. On the other hand, perhaps I am still not so skilled at this task, for a number of reasons, including remembering where the half buried rocks are located! Occasionally, when the mower is in neutral gear, I will suddenly shift to the fastest speed, causing my head to whip back, and nearly throw me off the mower, as it leaps forward like a startled stallion. Getting on the mower and out in the fresh air is a festival of sensory experiences. The smell of fresh grass, waving at passing cars, and feeling the breeze on my face are some of the reasons I enjoy mowing the lawns. My emotional state also goes up and down; now hitting a rock, then watching swallows swooping to catch mosquitoes...

We do prayer for individual others that we truly care about who are in need. We pray for someone who is ill or less capable of dealing with problems and their situation has aroused our compassion. If they could heal themselves all alone, they would already be okay, but like us, suffering overwhelms and they often become incapable of praying for themselves effectively. We can even pray for them in ways they are not capable of praying for themselves. Prayer for others going through a life change is advocating for them out of compassion. Perhaps prayer can act like honey over your dear friends relationship problem so that everything comes back again sweet and careful as before. It is very nice to pray for others, and even though we might not be an expert on their life and problems, we want to feel that our compassion for others will compensate and have a good effect. In addition, people always hope that their well-meaning compassion will override any incompetence on their part. They might...

What could possibly motivate someone to renounce everything for the dharma? Before we think about that, let us define what renunciation means since spiritual teachers rarely use that word anymore. All Buddhist texts refer to renunciation as a high quality to work toward developing. Inept renunciation means rejecting what we need and want, and now we have to reluctantly give it up. Some will think that there is something that they really want to own that has to be given up even before they get it. Both of these meanings are untrue. Years ago a student sent me a frantic letter, “Rinpoche, I’m just so confused because I feel like I want to achieve enlightenment, however, what about Susie?” (Well, I don’t know Susie!! What about Susie?”) “I promised her that I would marry her, but if I should go for this enlightenment, then I have to renounce everything and what about Susie? She’s expecting this, and not only that, I was sort of expecting to have children! You telling us about all this ...