Satisfied Buddhist - Domo Geshe Rinpoche

Gratitude is experiencing an internal and subjective object, whereas thankfulness has an external object. Thankfulness cannot be experienced as an emotion devoid of an object. The skills we may lack to genuinely generate both of these valuable states of mine will require us to move away from self-centered attitudes to make special effort to thank those responsible for our sense of well-being that brings us happiness. Many feel that it is a sign of personal failing to thank others for what they have done for them, instead retreating from the opportunity to say how they feel. Some might think that by thanking others, opening the heart to experience thankfulness and gratitude for how kind others have been, is a sign that they are weaker than others. The reality is quite the opposite! The most successful in this world have overcome their fears and are openly grateful and thankful to others in ways that are an inspiration for others to achieve greatness themselves. It is a big step in learn...

Thinking about the kind of goods found in airport tariff free stores and on board airplanes... perfumes, whiskeys, fancy watches, cigars, expensive chocolates and diamond pendants. If that money spent on non essential luxury goods could be magically redirected toward the most needy... would that be a lot of help? I am going to think if I have a non essential I would try to avoid receiving as a gift and instead allow me to give money to the poor.... hmmm .. will need to think about this ..

There are many advanced spiritual practitioners who use every breath they take as tonglen healing, (giving and taking upon the breath). They are literally the purifiers of this world. However, if you never begin tonglen practice, you will never get to that point. How amazing it would be if every place you went, you were like a clarifying and purifying filter for the energy of the world? This is what high practitioners do. ~Domo Geshe Rinpoche~~~ ""Es gibt viele fortgeschrittene spirituell Übende, die jeden ihrer Atemzüge als ein Tonglenheilmittel einsetzen (das Geben und Nehmen auf dem Atem). Sie sind buchstäblich diejenigen die die Welt reinigen. Wenn Du allerdings nie eine Tonglenpraxis beginnst, wirst du auch nie so weit kommen. Wie wundervoll es doch wäre, wenn Du wo immer Du auch bist, ein klärender, reinigender Filter für die Energie dieser Welt sein könntest! So machen es die hohen Übenden." Domo Geshe Rinpoche----

Good and true friends are more difficult to find than people who are interested in a sensual relationship. That is because intimate contact stimulates the self, whereas the effort to reach and interact with a friend requires more selfless efforts. Friends are more valuable because they take us away from self cherishing more than intimates. DGR

Some pseudo- spiritual/materialistic philosophies suggest that we disbelieve whatever we cannot personally prove by our own experiences. However, surely we can have some learning based on faith and reliance on others without personal experience! We can learn in school how others have discovered various truths such as the microcosmic or macrocosmic world. We call also learn from the successes and failures of others without reproducing them ourself. From a Buddhist refuge point of view, we develop trust in the Buddha as a reliable source, which ripens our capacity to spend our valuable time learning what direction we should dig to discover what we need to experience! Then, higher being becomes like our satellite GPS, showing where to go for the greatest benefit. We could spend a lifetime trying to gather useless experiences because of mistrust. Logic suggests that we maximize our remaining time in correct effort. Domo Geshe Rinpoche „Es gibt pseudo-spirituelle/materialistische Philosophi...

We all need to return to a more stable form of our self, with a stable interior referent. For example, over the summer, a schoolteacher might have a chance to spend time alone, enjoying them self by reading, walking through the woods and relaxing….. But returning to school in the fall and over the school year, by  May or June, he or she, hardly recognizes them self again ! The healing from the previous summer is gone! Many teachers feel as if their feet are held to the fire for nine long months! A competent, intelligent, but suffering person, (no matter what their job), can hardly wait to have time to be alone to find them self once again! However, each time they get back to feeling them self again, they aren’t them self anymore, because they did not reach the level of a stabilized referent. When they did take time off to recover, they did either did not have enough time or do it strongly enough to heal the stress completely. Not feeling very happy, they instea...

Even the heaven realms, the pure realms and holy places of pilgrimage that practitioners look to as the excellent support for their craving and grasping, are empty of essence. Devotees of this sort are looking for a special kind of spiritual good within ordinary stability, one that will support them in their life process and make them feel secure and virtuous. However, the dynamic they seek from these holy realms cannot fully satisfy them because these realms do not possess the qualities that the devotee ascribes to them in a solidified spiritual manner. excerpt from Mystery of Emptiness & Love http://www.amazon.com/Mystery-Emptiness-Love-Geshe-Rinpoche/dp/0692003940/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1246398169&sr=1-1 or Kindle edition