Satisfied Buddhist - Domo Geshe Rinpoche

Most Buddhist symbols in our world have deeper meanings such as dorje or bell, eternal knot and traditional auspicious designs. Part of your inner mind structure is already attuned to a more symbolic language even if uncultivated toward the awakening state. Perhaps you you have seen, in a vivid dream or even in waking life, a triangle or circle, or another compelling symbolic form hanging in the air, almost hypnotically holding your attention. We cultivate and use seed letters extensively in Tibetan tantric practice. We deliberately attune to that developing inner mind of the symbolic realm strongly, but you do not have to be Buddhist to have that inner, more subtle mind already alert. In other words, it is a world of form, but very unlike the world of form in which you exist in the human realm. There are many symbolic form subtle expressions, even mathematical. Have you seem the mathematical world? It is very interesting." ~Domo Geshe Rinpoche ~~~ "La mayoría de los símbolos...

Continuation of discernment from yesterday -. The definition of discernment is "the process by which two stimuli differing in some aspect are responded to differently”. Deeper discernment is important to learn, remember and put into practice. Buddhist logical studies and deeper meditation stimulates the actual practice, the only method to train components of an inner alignment. This learning energetically inside is in the level that touches the boundaries between deep theoretical possibilities of the human mind and the human subtle mind of the next interior level. Controlled discrimination is the method and buddhist logical studies should act as an alerting factor. Inner discrimination and discernment in the ordinary mind, over time or lifetimes become hardened, deadened, and distanced from inner senses. For those of you who have been to some of my other teachings, or particularly at this past winter retreat, have learned about inner senses. This work that we are doing here tog...

Let us open a subject that might be either intensely interesting or intensely boring to you: developing discernment on the spiritual path. You already are using a lively mixed bag of discernments in your ordinary life as well as being a product of your well practiced discernments and discriminations. Your decisions that were based on these choices has substantially created you. You have, like everybody else, also changed or recreated your perceptions to accomplish your special day-to-day self- image and the direction of your life by both intellectual or energetic discernment. Let us focus here on discernment although I usually teach how to arise careful discrimination. In the Tibetan education system, we only use an important word after understanding its various Buddhist meanings and sub meanings. So, there must be some differences between those two words. The dictionary defines discrimination as "the ability or power to see or make fine distinctions”. In Buddhism, this would be...

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...

There are ordinary good wishes for others and then there are the extraordinary wishes. There already exists a wonderful buddhist model for an extraordinary wish for every living being to realize boundless good qualities. “May all sentient beings have happiness and the cause of happiness” This is the wish that desires to lift all living beings away from self-centeredness toward true happiness and freedom. It also lifts us toward the optimistic view that affirms and implies that living beings are truly capable of realizing those boundless and timeless great qualities. Our own personal qualities and ability to actually grant or to wish good qualities for others depends completely on our stage of development. Sometimes it might feel just like when we were small, creating a magic wand from a twig or toilet plunger and happy tapping everyone turn by turn. “Now you are happy”. I knew a little boy who would tap people on the head if they had a cold and he would say, “Now you’re ok.” I have see...

Although you have an interest in spiritual subjects, it is helpful to understand different kinds of mind, how they are produced, and what effects they have on your personal life. To understand the nature of mind is to understand the root of happiness and suffering. The study of Lorig, the nature and functions of the mind is introduced so that you become capable of discriminating between positive and negative minds and make strong determination to abandon negativity at the root, by your own decision. The many schools of Buddhism developed according to teaching lineages and philosophical points of view. This is not the emphasis of Lorig. We could spend time looking at this or that point of view or study who thought what and how that relates to another view. That is not a part of Lorig study, so we’re not going to do that. This is not the teachings on emptiness, not the teachings of healing techniques, or the Madhyamika Prasangika view. So I am telling you what it is not first. This is a ...

In a spiritual environment just about the last thing we want to discuss is the root center/chakra. We are willing to talk about anything above the belt and not, not, not dirty associations we have with the “lower energies”. So, let’s think about root center dynamics. Many negative root center-stimulating factors exist in other plexes stimulation also. However, they come alive most strongly in the root. Fear is felt in the root plexus or inner/outer nerve bundle as an attack that arises survival instinct. Now a days there is so little actual danger in comparison to danger of war, or wild animal attack that this can be trained to respond to attacks on reputation or disrespect as survival fear. Negativity stimulates root chakra activity in an unhealthy way. As that energy increases, it interacts with existing energy and begins to “talk to itself” in the root center. Fear further adds juice to that. Bad news on television might stimulate it. Judging others negatively and assigning negative...