In a selection from his new book, Surya Das shows just how practical it is to view everything as a blessing.
All Buddhist teachers, and I am no exception, point out that all of our happiness as well as all of our despair arise from the mind. When we search for happiness and an end to suffering, the only place to look is within the mind itself. We each contain within ourselves all that we need for personal joy, bliss, wisdom, equanimity, and peace. There is no reason to look to externals or anywhere else. When one truly embraces this thought, there is nothing to fear. We are truly free.
Until...
How would Buddha love? By seeing everything as fundamentally like himself
If one's thoughts towards spirituality were of the same intensity as those towards love, one would become a Buddha in this very body, in this very life."
--from the Love Poems of the Sixth Dalai Lama
Valentine's Day is one of my favorite American holidays. The fact that this heart-centered if over-commercialized day falls around the same time as Tibetan New Year reminds me to make new year's resolutions relating to those I love and renew my commitment to cultivating goodness of heart. These resolutions usually...
