Satisfied Buddhist - Domo Geshe Rinpoche

  There must be some good reasons that you’re here other than just being born here. Caught in a maze of conflicting unfulfilled wishes or the debris of previous suffering conditions might be real possibilities. There are many people have barriers to experiencing a high quality human life because they are plagued by illness, accidents, dissatisfaction, or an inability to get along with others. It might even seem that what they don’t want comes so easily, but what they do want, they cannot seem to get. This builds up even more suffering and they can’t seem to connect with the world they live in. On the other hand, to be fair, there are those who are not interested in life because they just don’t have that much karma for this world any more and are in preparation for awakening. There are also many that still have karma for family life, karma to bear and care for children. However, not everyone with karma to have children are good parents. What would it be like to not ...

We can do with our mind what is impossible with the body.. isn't that so? Classic Tibetan Lojong mind training aphorism: “Give up poison food.” When we do virtuous actions with hidden motivations, there are many difficult states of mind that will be also be invited to participate and fed. Traditional Buddhist teachings focus on the problem of self-cherishing as the primary target of our transformative work. However, out of habit and deluded self-protection, even long time Buddhist practitioners will continue to choose self-serving elements that do not superficially appear as self-cherishing. That is why it is difficult to root out the rot of virtue. It is easy to spontaneously select a tainted justification for actions. Virtuous activities can be done with a contaminated agenda, while still feeling that you are doing something good, it is actually poisonous to yourself. The unawakened continue to suffer by consuming the food of massaged motivation, which has be...

Classic Buddhist mind training advice: “Do not lie in ambush.” A common strategy for a controlling-type personality is to energetically lie to someone by giving a good poker face, and leading someone on. It is often used as the basis for telling a good joke too. This same strategy, in its high form, is also a Socratic method of tea ching. So, what is the difference between these? One has motivation to control another, to draw someone into a position by making them fear to do otherwise, and then punishing her or him, while others have more beneficial intentions. The underlying structure for telling a good joke is to wait in ambush to make them laugh and enjoy. A good joker pretends to do one thing, then springs out with another way to see it. For example; at a circus, a tiny car roars into the ring, and many clowns get out. We laugh because it is unexpected, and we release tension in a positive way. Or a clown chases another clown with a bucket that we are certa...

There are so many important views of bodhicitta, each gives a portion of a more vast vision. While studying Buddhist lojong, or mind training, remember that there is a good reason to receive Manjushri practice along with mind training. That is because Buddha Manjushri is associated with increasing mental capacities and learning, as well as penetrating wisdom to destroy the obstacles to the enlightened state. We must practice penetrating discernment, driving a sword of wisdom like a shish-ka-bob, right through our daily life activities and all the way to the surprising discovery of emptiness. We will need a very sharp, long, and enlightened sword of wisdom in order to do that. We must penetrate and permeate our daily life with higher mindfulness and higher discrimination so that we can acquire the knowledge of its essence with clarity. We request the blessings of Guru Manjushri to help us accomplish that important task. Therefore, mind training and Manjushri practice ...

A personal relationship with Buddha Manjushri will bless you with the confidence to become a wisdom holder under His Guidance. How to become a better facilitator of your inner process is the work of Buddhist mind training, such as Lojong. As you train to generate certain high quality thoughts, your subconscious, and other inner minds, which are among the more subtle levels of your own mind, can become beneficially influenced by your daily activities. Not onl y are inner minds positively influenced, but you also gain closure to some pretty nasty bits of karmic residue lodged in the subtle that have manifested as sufferings endured in this lifetime. When this life is over, and your actual being interior draws back its life force, the body and outer minds will fall away. At that point you will want to have experienced such a high quality life and closure to suffering that your actual being, an aspect of inner mind, shifts into inner awareness existence with no further oute...

It's not about me and it's not about you! ~Domo Geshe Rinpoche ~~~ Spiritual evolution is real work, not physical or mental sensual gratification. A dedicated sensualists primary goal is seeking just another way to be happy without having to do much work, going from one thing to another without achieving full satisfaction. Deliberate inner work is what will eventually transform each of us into some one capable of being happy, and not by finding someone or something that is going to make us happy. The work we do in Buddhist Lojong mind training, and our daily meditation practice gives us a great opportunity to understand how to work and make the necessary changes in order to transform. This lifelong process is not about being comfortable or discovering something that generates happiness, rather it is what will cause each of us to become valuable! Perhaps you forgot that you were supposed to become valuable, and not just another high-maintenance experiencer of man...

No one is preventing us from passing our human days and nights in contemplation in the manner of the enlightened ones. No one will ever come knocking on your door shouting out “Hey you in there! Are you doing enlightened style meditation? You just stop that, because you are not an enlightened being!” There is no one to stop you fro m meditating in the manner of the enlightened ones. All Lojong mind-training practices are in the manner of the enlightened ones. If you make strong determination to do the meditations, and enter the dynamics of Lojong mind training, it is certain that confusion will end. From confusion and disturbance, you will arrive at clarity, able to practice toward perfection using methods that might not be possible right now. You should not think, ‘I can’t practice right now because I am too disturbed.’ Lojong mind training is useful and valid from where you are right now, all the way to the enlightened state. ~Domo Geshe Rinpoche ~~~ "Niema...