What does it mean to trust anyone, especially a spiritual teacher? What do we do when a teacher doesn’t present him/herself in a way that is comfortable for us? I don’t see how it is possible to skip over questions like these.
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As meditators we look at the mind and its activity. When we begin to practice, we often feel surprised: “I didn’t realize my mind was so wild and unruly!” Even experienced practitioners will complain, “I have been practicing for thirty years, but my mind is still crazy!” We often view experience as a problem. So how do we work with it? Is there a way to enjoy the activity of mind? How does practice bring us into a healthy relationship with our world? Meditation puts these questions front and center.
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My experience is that something really positive always emerges from the heart when it is broken. A tender heart has unlimited “give” while a brittle or contracted heart – a heart focused on me and mine – has no choice but to break.
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Try thinking of self as just “being” and responding to the world around you with intelligence. You are a part of the great nature of infinite interdependence.
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I think when there is a longing we can creatively find ways to practice. Flexibility is key. You can’t hold on to fixed ideas of how you think things should be. You let your longing for practice guide you.
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Sometimes I wonder about this notion of creating a new American Buddhism. I think it is more important to probe deeply and personally into the meaning of the teachings and practice and the lineage of realization.
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On the path of bodhicitta, sometimes we even make the wish: “May I take the sufferings of others onto myself!” This is an outrageous aspiration. Beings are limitless, therefore suffering is limitless, and so our compassion and care for them too must be limitless.
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When we recognize how lost we get in the habitual momentum of our thoughts and emotions, we realize how little strength we have to move in the direction of sanity. This can inspire us to understand and appreciate the power of prayer. Prayer cuts through the wild and discursive activity of the mind, giving us direction and providing a means to bring our actions together with our intentions.
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I want to say there is kind of a Buddhist “rote” answer, and that would be “no” to euthanasia and “yes” to letting the animal die naturally. But I think the dharma goes much deeper than simply giving us “rote” answers.
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