Satisfied Buddhist - Domo Geshe Rinpoche

A boy arrives alone to a remote monastery, sent by his aunt and uncle who can no longer care for him. Shamefaced, he is brought to the abbot. "Why do you look so unhappy?" "No one wants me, my parents died and my relatives feel that I am a burden to them. I have no value in this world!" The abbot spoke from deep wisdom, "I can see that your karma is close to being exhausted for family life, my boy. Karma has causes it to fall away, no matter how much you try to grasp at worldly satisfaction. Instead, your karma for non-attainment of desire has increased. Now do not suffer, but rejoice! The Buddha has said 'come' to you." ~Domo Geshe Rinpoche~~~ Un niño llega solo a un remoto monasterio, enviado por su tía y su tío que ya no pueden cuidar de él. Vergonzante, que sea llevado al abad. "¿Por qué estás tan feliz?" "Nadie me quiere, mis padres murieron y mi familia siento que soy una carga para ellos. No tengo ningún valor en este mundo!...

Dharma education is 10% learning and 90% unlearning! DGR "Dharmaausbildung besteht zu 10% aus Lernen und zu 90% daraus, bereits vorhandenes Wissen abzulegen! DGR

Live up to your spiritual potential! Do not do it for yourself, to become more happy, powerful or likable, but do it for those who you could be helping right now if you were healed! DGR "Erfülle Dein spirituelles Potential! Tu es nicht für Dich selbst, um glücklicher, mächtiger oder beliebter zu werden, sondern für die, denen Du in diesem Augenblick helfen könntest, wenn Du geheilt wärst!" DGR

Calming the mind. There is a connection between the breath and the mind. In all Tibetan yogic traditions, we emphasize to the student that the mind rides the breath like a rider on a horse. Then later, the meaning of pranayama breathing is skillful, without dangerous pushing, or superficial, like some boring duty. There are many calming the mind meditations, however, the one that is used the most is counting breaths without distraction. This acts as discipline, holding the mind to a certain pattern. Count in breath an out breath as one - from one to ten. Most folks would say, “No problem. Watch; one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten.” Like that. I can count to ten. But can you count to ten while you breathe and only count? Alright. "Den Geist beruhigen. Es besteht eine Verbindung zwischen Atem und Geist. In allen yogischen Traditionen Tibets betonen wir dem Schüler gegenüber, dass der Geist den Atem reitet wie ein Reiter sein Pferd. Später wird die Bedeutung de...

Many Buddhist traditions contend that the Buddha was already enlightened in previous lives, and in the traditional manner, he had an internal awakening, and sought to wake up. He wanted to know the truth, and so he left his life of ease. After many years of great effort, he had the great awakening beyond the state of a learner Bodhisattva. How marvelous it is to be enlightened for the first time as a learner Bodhisattva, but Buddha Shakyamuni had already awakened in many previous lives. What he did in this last life was wake up to the tremendous responsibility of a world teacher, and for that he had to be very big. There is an enlightened alert state on the outside while still able to remain in reality alignment inside that is a sign of a great teacher rather than a hermit practitioner. He grew bigger inside without becoming diminished on the outside. The tremendous emergence into the activities of a world teacher caused the Buddha to enter into a new relationship with the world and al...

Even a dedicated and careful Buddhist householder’s life today is quite different from the dramatic life of Jetsun Milarepa, the great Tibetan singer and saint who lived many hundreds of years ago. Furthermore, the daily lives of people who are somewhat interested in Buddhism, but do not sustain a daily practice, differ significantly from the many Western people who are doing strong and committed Buddhist practice every day. However, the practice of a good mother, whether she is Buddhist, Christian or atheist, will make her a saint, if she does it right! ~Domo Geshe Rinpoche~~~ Selbst das Leben eines passionierten und sorgfältigen buddhistischen Haushaltsvorstands von heute ist völlig anders als das dramatische Leben Jetsun Milarepas, des großen tibetischen Sängers und Heiligen, der vor vielen hundert Jahren lebte. Ausserdem unterscheidet sich das Leben von Menschen die zwar etwas am Buddhismus interessiert sind aber keine tägliche Praxis aufrechterhalten ganz wesentlich von dem viel...

"Believe nothing, no matter where you read it, or who said it, no matter if I have said it, unless it agrees with your own reason and your own common sense" Buddha This abused quotation is meant to encourage people to put the teachings into practice instead of only respecting them but doing nothing to change. It has laughably become a call to worship ones own view. DGR now for some of the strange responses to this --- == One should worship no one's view -- their own, their teachers', the Buddha's. It was a call to apply rational thought, investigation and scrutiny to everything one perceives, reads or hears. In so doing, the authentic Dharma will always stand up to such scrutiny. This threatens many so-called gurus, lamas and teachers, though; because they want mindless obedience from their students. It is a prevalent problem with Western Buddhism and Hinduism. And it was one of the reasons my gurus instructed us to begin the Contemplative Monks. == The time of t...

Great value is placed on education, self-development and individuality as methods of understanding ourselves and our place in the world, isn’t that so? As we move to higher goals such as seeking enlightenment, it is only natural that we bring our self-confidence and methods of gathering knowledge with us as aptitudes to that process of discovery. Problems only arise when we cannot find the balance between thinking that we need to disrespect ourselves to become enlightened, or on the other hand, hold too lofty a valuation of ourselves. This lack of equilibrium becomes especially apparent if we fall into dysfunctional pride that makes us incapable of understanding that Lord Buddha Shakyamuni held a higher view of reality than we do. Modern society places such value on the unique self, making recognition of something or someone greater than themselves a challenge. In effect, some might enter into a competitive relationship with the Buddha himself; thereby invalidating the many benefits...

The Middle Way is the philosophical foundation of the Buddhist path. Hundreds of years after the Buddha passed away, the ancient Indian Buddhist master, Nagarjuna, expounded on the basics, which were then further developed  by others such as Chandrakirti and Je Tsongkapa. Popular modern Buddhism, however,  says that the middle way or middle path is found by neither trying too much or too little! In other words, among world religions, they are saying that Buddhism takes the middle of the road! This is not the meaning at all. It is called middle way because we advocate neither nihilism nor eternalism as a fundamental basis for reality’s expression. We do not believe that there is even one permanent thing such as a prime creator or any other phenomena. Neither do we believe that nothing exists at all, but is simple a figment of imagination. Maintaining the view of the middle way is a feature of Buddhism, and is not in other religious traditions, making us a unique view....

As a result of feeling optimistic by successfully praying for individuals, we might wish to begin praying for all living beings. Our renewed self-confidence in practicing compassion through prayer might cause us to want to act as a model for other living beings to return to healthy relationships and good physical, mental, financial conditions. Feeling that what works on an individual basis, should also work for everybody! Why not pray for all living beings? However, to do that properly you need to discover different parameters for this form of prayer. Now we need new levels of faith in higher being while praying for all living beings without regard to your personal relationship with them. This means that you do not know them, and will not get any feedback at all. No one will tell you, "My elbow was hurting yesterday, and now it feels better. Thank you for your prayers." Eventually and with practice, we will be able to pray for all living beings, whomever or wherever they ...