Listening to the teachings from Khenpo, one of the
high monks at Neydo Monastery this weekend was a blessing. Buddhism has always been a deep
interest of mine since first coming to Asia in 1994, and being a student of
Vedanta philosophy I often see similarities. In fact sitting there crossed legged listening to the
teachings if I closed my eyes I could have thought I was in a Vedanta theory
class, until I opened them again and saw the speaker was a Tibetan monk. So what is Buddhism? Well what it really comes down to is
ones view and ones behaviour. A
Buddhist will practice what we call in Vedanta, Ahimsa, or non-harmfulness. This means causing no injury to any
other life form in thought and deed.
Even if a mosquito is biting you, we have to skilfully learn to brush it
away without hurting it. Our
thoughts are very powerful things that create vibrations so it is important to
be mindful of what we are thinking.
There are 3 jewels, which are often depicted within Buddhist art, the Buddha,
the Dharma and the Sanga. Dharma
means spiritual teachings or the spiritual path and Sanga meaning
community. We are encouraged to
take refuge in all three, but taking refuge in the Dharma means to train ones
mind, it is important not to just follow blindly but to enquire about and
contemplate the teachings before absorbing them. Our minds are polluted by three main pollutants; ignorance,
anger and hatred, and greed and pride.
When the mind is polluted we cannot get out of samsara, the circle of
birth and rebirth. So by training
our mind we can aim to give up our negative qualities and turn them into
positive qualities. But this is
not possible overnight, it takes practice, we can’t just give up pride just
like that, again and again we have to practice patience and to develop
compassion. Compassion is the
antidote. If we can understand our
own sufferings and pain then it is easier to be compassionate to others. It is not an easy thing to have deep
compassion straight away, we need to work at it and develop the wish to give
happiness to all sentient beings.
Establishing compassion on a deep level will begin to bring long lasting
happiness and not a temporary happiness that comes from external objects. We have to inquire about ourselves, we
can do this through meditation, to know what it is about ourselves that has to
be abandoned and what is to be taken up or developed. Khenpo says that staying is solitude is an essential part of
practice to come to such understandings.
So going on retreats is important to be able to be with ourselves and
dive deep into our hearts. He
advises us to dedicate all our good merit and all the good things that we have
achieved to all sentient beings and not to waste a minute and to practice in a
meaningful way.
So there you go, roll out your mat, light a candle
and sit with yourself, meditate on yourself and see what you can find, then all
the wonderful blessings you have dedicate to all living entities.
Pranamaya yoga centre are running weekend retreats to
Neydo Monastery each month please check their website for details; www.pranamaya-yoga.com
Have a beautiful day
Om om shanti om
Mangala / nicky.
