Jessi K: Lama, there are many 3’s in Buddhism. Are these all interrelated? For example; three jewels, maitri-karuna, three curves of OM, and even your recent quote of transforming, healing and knowing.
Lama Surya Das: Buddha was not from the accountant caste, but he did teach long ago in an oral culture where mnemonic devices such as rhyme, meter and lists were both useful and prevalent in helping others learn and retain theories and practical instructions— not unlike our western notions like The Seven Seas or The Nine Planets. One could certainly say that, in general, the kind...
@karmakees: When and where does ego end?
Lama Surya Das: Ego is not the real problem, but egotism is. At least from the Buddhist point of view, egotism is the root of all evil. I think it’s selfishness and egocentricity that causes us— and those around us— the most grief.
Egotism is based on the delusion that we are separate selves in competition with others and the rest of the world. Ego probably has no beginning nor end, but who can say? Some would say that ego ends in enlightenment, but that is overstating the case. Even an enlightened person, though they may be selfless...
Lonnie R.:The Dharma teaches us that we should try to see things as they are without judgment. I have always had trouble with this because I am a very judgmental person. Can you give me some advice on how to see things without judgment.
Lama Surya Das: First, let me say, since we’re alone here and what happens on the Internet stays on the Internet, as they say.
I can personally empathize with you and understand that it’s difficult to be free of judgment, especially self-judgment. Those inner voices (from the past, mostly) just don’t seem to stop! But that’s where meditation...
Jeff L.: Hey Lama, What do I do when I realize here is infinite possibility? What road do I take? The choices are nearly making me insane!!!
Lama Surya Das: Insane is as insane does. So be cool. Stay calm. Listen up, for a moment.
Infinite possibilities implies freedom to choose, and to be responsible for ones choices, intentions, and their results in terms of karmic outcome. I have a feeling that you might need to focus a little bit, collect your energies and learn to calm down. Try to breathe, relax, center, focus and smile. Then do it again, and even again. (Three’s a sacred number.)
Now:...
Alissa C.: What are the best resources to use when starting the journey of learning the Buddhist way? Reading has been my sole educator but I feel as though I need more. What do you recommend? Any books you recommend (not to worry I am in the process of reading all of yours ;)
Lama Surya Das: Reading is fine, to begin with. There’s plenty to learn and be inspired by. In fact there’s a whole new movement or wing of Buddhism which I lovingly call Bookstore Buddhism, which often but not always includes soft chairs and cappuccino or chai while immersing oneself in sacred texts.
However,...
06 Oct 2010 |
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”I am always very happy and thrilled to see young people doing positive things together. This gives me such a great hope for tomorrow and the future. Of course philosophically speaking, we always say, ‘Tomorrow never comes, we live in the present;’ but practically speaking, we have to have a vision for tomorrow or some kind of hope for tomorrow, otherwise living in the present for majority of us can be very difficult, unless we are greatly enlightened beings. Even spiritual lineages like ours have to think of “succession planning,” something I just learned from...
Lisa M.: One of my recurring struggles is with loneliness, and understanding that it relates to greed, I would love to discuss some ideas to help open my understanding of this emotion. Thank you for everything you do.
Lama Surya Das: We are all alone together. That’s the secret. One might do well to reflect upon this and see if it’s not true, and furthermore endeavor to unfold various levels of meaning. Are you really alone, cherie?
Another secret is that the small, limited, ego self is inevitably lonely and alone, alienated and disconnected, anxious and insecure— to varying...
Jacqueline J: How do you teach compassion to children? Can it be taught?
Lama Surya Das: Yes, compassion can certainly be taught. How to teach it to children is a subset of that issue. Besides the fact that many would say that children are naturally empathic, which is the essence of compassion— feeling with others— some would go even further and postulate that children are psychic, or intuitive at least (and thus closely attuned to and connected with others near to them) until we drum it out of them through socialization and the like, with all the emphasis on conforming, left-brained...
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.
