Satisfied Buddhist - Domo Geshe Rinpoche

Female qualities are usually associated with gentleness, nurturing and motherly qualities while male qualities are most often related with a heroic stance in the face of difficulties. The complexity of culture is clearly seen when it assign s qualities and behaviors to males and females while strictly monitoring the distinctions. In an educated world this causes gender conflicts, strong feelings of disrespect and rebellion against the perceived oppression. So, in 37 practices of a Bodhisattva, where it states “The Sons of the Buddhas all practice this way” this is really about Heroes of the Buddhas, the active bodhisattvas.  In our modern world we can easily see that gender-specific identities are not the norm anymore, no matter what culture still says. Active men’s groups emphasize and learn to possess more traditional feminine qualities such as nurturing, love and openness. On the other hand, there are many women with strong male characteristics such as heroic determination....

Optimism has at its core... optimizing! From the spectrum of the choices of words, thoughts and attitudes, an optimist will make the most of a situation by selecting only those marked "positive." Lifting those attitudes to the light of expression, the optimist encourages poor choices to languish by disuse. Let's try to extract the ess ence of auspiciousness or even enhanced luck by the distillation of our choices! ~Domo Geshe Rinpoche ~~~ ""Der Optimismus hat in seinem Kern...das Optimieren! Aus dem Spektrum der Auswahlmöglichkeiten an Worten, Gedanken und Haltungen wird der Optimist aus einer Situation das beste machen, indem er nur das auswählt was als 'positiv' gekennzeichnet ist. Indem er diese Haltungen ausdrückt und hochhält, bringt er die schlechteren Auswahlmöglichkeiten dazu, durch Nichtbeachtung langsam zu verkümmern. Lasst uns versuchen die Essenz des Glücksverheißenden oder des Glückes selbst zu extrahieren, indem wir unser...

Optimism requires some inspiration to get us started… right? But aren’t we literally doing inspiration by drawing air into us? If we want to make a huge change, the inspiration of the Buddha’s breath and His teaching and activities are still dancing all around us. There are so many who say we are in the end years of the Buddha’s teachings, but I do not believe this is true. I believe that up until the very last moment of closure of the time of Buddha Shakyamuni’s teaching cycle, the optimistic spirit of his teachings is fully present! This means not just what we receive from the Buddha, but present from all of the great masters, such as Je Tsongkhapa, Padmasambhava, the many Heruka practitioners meditating in caves, and even people sitting in their apartments meditating in Chicago; they are also our inspiration. The communities of Buddhists are not only alive each in their own practice, but they are also alive in the optimism of altruism. Depending on how we choose to spend our life, w...

Buddhist optimism means that ALL living beings shall be free, and is based upon the Bodhisattva vow of universal liberation. What could be more optimistic than that? However, what makes it different from get rich quick schemes is that we are not trying to program our subconscious to get more: to get our desires met, manifesting the new car, the boyfriend, or the girlfriend that we want, but in fact, quite the opposite. We no longer are interested in drawing each and every desired object toward ourselves, but instead, self-interest (self-cherishing or the self-important view,) completely turns inside out. We discover for ourselves that we can exponentially increase the desire to benefit others in ways that we could never accomplish for ourselves. What we wish for others will have a more profound effect on the world, and in fact, it has a more profound effect on us than any form of secret or not-so-secret guide to higher self cherishing. The Bodhisattva ideal is not just for this lifetim...

The dictionary definition of optimism is the philosophical opposite of pessimism, “an inclination to put the most favorable construction upon actions and events, or to anticipate the best possible outcome.” Optimists generally believe that people, events, and situations are inherently good and that everything is going to work out fine in the end. I read about Pollyanna, ( the poster girl of optimists,) who was able to infect many with her optimism, whereas others might just feel that she is an idiot. The dictionary states that some optimists have a more internalized view of optimism, believing, (this is where the spirituality of optimism comes in) that regardless of the external world or situation, we should choose to feel good about it. Whatever the circumstances are, we should make the most of it. This kind of optimism does not depend on the quality of the external world; internal optimism adjusts one’s own feelings instead of changing others. Optimism has permeated Western culture f...