Tammy W: My biggest struggle is with overwhelming emotions and emotional attachments. I am a solo practitioner with no access to a dharma center in the US. I am also fairly new to Tibetan Buddhism so I am struggling with many aspects, but this seems to be the major one. What daily practices can I do to help with this?
Lama Surya Das: This is a huge question, and one of the most important issues we all face in life, whether or not we’re on the spiritual path. No simple answer will do, although too may are availible. Let go and let God? Let go, let be? Acceptance has it’s own transformative...
Iamspoonbender: What is the meaning, and significance behind the five ha laughter in the vajrasattva mantra?
Lama Surya Das: The four joyous and energetic Ha’s in the 100 syllable long Vajrasattva purification mantra of Tibetan Buddhism refer— according to the late great Nyingmapa leader Dudjom Rinpoche— to the Four Joys, the Four Boundless, Four Empowerments and the Four Kayas. What you do with this fairly technical Vajrayana explanation is another matter!
Submitted by @Iamspoonbender via Twitter on August 4th, 2010.
15 Sep 2010 |
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Tessa Madsen Loewen: Within the Buddhist religion, how does love play a part in human life?
Lama Surya Das: The historical teacher named Gautama Buddha 2500 years ago talked a great deal about love and caring, cherishing others even more than oneself, and loving-kindness (metta) or warmth friendliness. This is one of the major tenets or practices to cultivate and positive qualities to develop on the path of enlightenment. He also advocated and taught about the need for and benefits of parental love, filial love, sibling love, Samaritan-like love, compassionate love, impartial equanimous love,...
Barbara Emson: How do I maintain my spiritual equanimity in the throes of so much suffering and social injustices? If I pay attention to my strong call of social activism, I become angry and bitter and hopeless. It’s a constant pendulum.
Lama Surya Das: When I read or watch the news during these decades I too can feel discouraged and even despondent, but whenever I talk to young people I feel great hope and joy, irrational as that may be.
Our country does seem to be in the throes of struggle and partisan divisiveness while going over the hill, but we can still work for a better world, for us and our children....
GildedMushroom: Must the internal ideal of a Personal Legend or Hero’s Journey be dropped to follow the 8-Fold path to enlightenment?
Lama Surya Das: No, I don’t think so, not entirely. Though there is a certain amount of questionable hubris and ego in this particular formulation— especially around the words ‘personal legend’.
The Noble Eight-fold Path of Enlightenment is open to one and all, from wherever we may be starting, sinners and degenerates included. So why not one with a Personal Legend mentality? The kind of archetypal Hero’s Journey I sense you are thinking...
15 Sep 2010 |
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Practice Dzochen, or natural meditation, with Lama Surya Das awakening the Buddha within.
Liz A.: Thank you for being “out there” and available for those of us with no guide! This past week, I bought a Rudraksha Mala to help with my daily practice. After purchasing it, I discovered it’s defective. It has only 103 beads instead of 108. Is it bad luck or disrespectful to use it anyway OR should I return it (which would be awkward)? To be honest, I’ve always been quite different from any of my “peer” group so don’t really mind that it’s odd too, but I don’t wish to make any mistakes with my learning. Thank you for your time &...
Nielle M: How do doubts lead to enlightenment? For me, doubts contribute to feeling stuck and unsure how to proceed…
Nielle’s question was in reference to the following post:
Korean Zen master Nine Mountains says, “Small doubt, small enlightenment; big doubt, big enlightenment.”
What have your doubts taught you?
Lama Surya Das: First of all, the zen master is referring to an ancient saying about complacency being inimical to conscious evolution, and hinting that curious seekers should have inquiring minds and never stop...
Joy Star: When a person ‘feels’ out of balance, what do you recommend as being the most effective way to restore harmony?
Lama Surya Das: In general, I like to recommend breathing, relaxing, centering and smiling as a little practical four-step process that anyone can easily do, implement and benefit from, anytime and anyplace, pretty much regardless of what’s going on.
This little contemplative yoga exercise engaging body, breath, mind and spirit helps restore balance and harmony. Of course, one could also, having done that and come back to one self a bit— or even...
Spontaneous creation is the reason there is something rather than nothing, why the universe exists, why we exist …
-Prof. Stephen Hawking (controversially) in a new book, The Grand Design
