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Meditation and Kindness

January 7, 2013 — 9 Comments

There are many forms of mediation followed in the world. I was lucky to study in Tucson with the Dalai Lama of Tibet who visited us in September, 1993 to teach patience. We had instruction for a year leading up to the visit to give us an introduction to the Tibetan view of meditation and cosmology. When the teaching finally took place at the Sheraton Conquistador when it was new and lovely we were in for both a treat and some deep concepts new to us. The Tibetan monks all sit down in front, as do many Tibetan civilians who prefer the floor for meditation. The room was full of all levels of understanding and experience, as is always the case with His Holiness. The teaching was wonderful, memorable, and inspiring.

He asked students to submit questions in writing for his consideration. He answered some that he thought best for his teaching. One woman asked how she cold begin a meditation practice, given all her stressful and distracting activities. He responded jokingly at first, saying that he also was too busy with stressful activities like leading a nation in exile. He continued quickly after the laugh to make sure he was not ridiculing the questioner, but seriously folks style, to praise her very valid question. His answer was simplicity itself. He told her that if she had time for nothing else, “Be nice.” He explained that if one did not karmically doom oneself by creating nasty thoughts, less meditation would be required to feel good. Meditation in any form is a practice to observe the mind and focus in spite of distraction. It destroys the delusions of the ego. It purifies consciousness. It turns irrational anger into patience. Meditation is the source of equanimity and deep wisdom.

You do not need to sit still or chant mantras to begin a meditation practice. If you have access to a teacher you can be taught many techniques to deepen your practice. If you want to start at the beginning and reap all the benefits, start by being nice.

Mythology

June 13, 2012 — 2 Comments

Each of us is operating inside of a myth. We hold beliefs that are common to our culture, our friends, and our family. Some people use icons, art , music, and movement to bring the beliefs into physical existence. I was first given instruction in Tibetan Buddhist mythology when The Dalai Lama came to Tucson in 1993 to teach patience. The group of us who would be in a retreat with his holiness were offered a year long training and initiation to the ideas and methods he uses. This was infinitely helpful, since the Tibetan practices are complicated and follow ancient traditions. By studying each month and going on retreat once with our teacher, a monk who was also a law professor, we had a very good head start when the time finally came to study with him.

We gathered in a hotel conference room to hear teachings, meditate, and exchange questions and answers with his holiness. He empowered us all to Green Tara, emphasizing to us that she was known for her swift action. We were to visualize her in great detail, having a postcard sized image to follow in our packets. The really difficult instruction was that the eyes were to be slightly open, gaze fuzzy and unfocused. I had not done such a visualization that required precision like that before, and found it to be challenging. Meeting her as I did for the first time when I was 42, I was not very accomplished as a Green Tara visualizer. The yoga I had done had always involved holding asana poses so long and so precisely that the mind and body required full attention to the task at hand, and therefore rose above distractions. Sitting still in a room full of people in folding chairs picturing an incarnation of the mother of all Buddhas was a new experience. I have since had the very good fortune to study with his holiness twice more, once in Zurich in 2005, and again in Tucson a few months later in 2005. Each time, although he covers the same texts, Shantideva’s Bodhisattva Way of Life, I deepen my understanding and ability to practice.