An excerpt from the Diamond Cutter (Prajnaparamita) Sutra

As a lamp, a cataract, a star in space
an illusion, a dewdrop, a bubble
a dream, a cloud, a flash of lightning
view all created things like this.

-Shakyamuni Buddha

A friend of mine posted a poem on her blog that brought this to mind.

Of ants and disciples

I've been thinking, as I progress along the Buddhist path, about how I must have done something right in a former life to be in the spot I am today, and oh how wonderful I am for that. I was a student of my current lama in a previous life, my imagination has told me. I'm big and important, even if it's not obvious in this life, so the mental narrative goes. I have been building up this view for quite a while. Then, suddenly, I remembered a story about Kalu Rinpoche. Once when he was younger he blessed many ants. Then many years later, he realized that many of the students that had come to him were actually reincarnations of the ants he had blessed! How quaint, I was thinking, when I first heard the story, but I finally realized my story may be similar. I could have been an ant in a previous life which an infinitely kind person blessed. Not so much to be prideful about anymore, although there remains a lot to be grateful for. :)

Hiking photos

Here are some photos from today's hike. The trailhead is actually 3 hours away, so we drove there last night. I slept under the stars while my hiking partner slept in the car. The park is in a very remote area, and the light pollution was minimal. It was very cool. We saw several large hawks, but I wasn't able to snap their picture.

I had the following thought while hiking: "Every experience is a mixture of pleasure and pain."

A spider!

Took a picture of this spider on the wall of our den. It's probably about half an inch long, to give a sense of scale. It's been patrolling the walls of our den for about a week now, usually hanging out by the ceiling. I feel bad because I don't think there's that much in here for it to eat.

A neat Padmasambhava quote

I read this passage last night, and it made me smile.

Though you are born as a human being, you are not beyond suffering. To begin with, before birth there is the suffering of being inside your mother's womb,where it is like being thrown into an abyss when your mother is lifting; like being squashed between cliffs when your mother is full of food; like fluttering in the wind when your mother is standing up; like being suppressed by a mountain when your mother is lying down; like being strangled when taking birth; like being thrown into a heap of thorns when laid down; and like a bird being carried off by a hawk when your mother takes you up again.

-Padmasambhava, quoted in "The Lotus Born, the Life Story of Padmasambhava"

Parallels between A.A. and Buddhism

I've been trying to really integrate my Buddhist beliefs into the A.A. program. Superficially, it's difficult, mainly because there's no creator deity in Buddhism, and the A.A. literature has the concept of God throughout it. I'm learning that it can be done, though. I'm leading someone through the steps right now, and as I do so, I plan on redoing the steps myself. Already, with step 3, I'm making progress, I think. Step 3 says that we made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood him. After searching on the internet for a Buddhist interpretation of this step, I came across an article which mentioned that the Buddhist concept of taking refuge is probably the clearest parallel to the third step. A Buddhist practitioner takes refuge in the Buddha, the Dharma (sacred teachings), and the Sangha (community of spiritually enlightened beings). This essentially means that one places one's trust in them. While I had paid lip service to taking refuge before, having drawn this tight connection with the third step, I feel like I actually get it at a much deeper level now. In connection with this is the A.A. phrase "Let go and let God." A Buddhist view on this might be simply "Let go." We need to get our egos, and sense of self, out of the way. In a Buddhist interpretation, once could say that there are billions of enlightened beings out there doing their best to help all sentient beings. My contribution based on ignorance is not helping. However, if I let go of my sense of self, I can actually gain access to the primordial wisdom that comes with the path to Buddhahood. This is not essentially different from saying "God's will be done." The essential point is to remove one's ego and self-cherishing from the picture.

I attend a Big Book (the A.A. manual) study on Thursdays, and this past Thursday we were reading the following passage (p.62).

Selfishness--self-centeredness! That, we think, is the root of our troubles. Driven by a hundred forms of fear, self-delusion, self-seeking, and self-pity, we step on the toes of our fellows and they retaliate...So our troubles, we think, are basically of our own making. They arise out of ourselves, and the alcoholic is an extreme example of self-will run riot, though he usually doesn't think so. Above everything, we alcoholics must be rid of this selfishness. We must, or it kills us! God makes that possible. And there often seems no way of entirely getting rid of self without His aid.

Note the emphasis on entirely getting rid of self!

Here is a parallel excerpt from The Torch of the Definitive Meaning by Jamgon Kongtrul.

The root of suffering in this world is the accumulation of negative karma. The root of negative karma is the disturbing emotions. The root of the disturbing emotions is the ignorance that cherishes a self.

Again we see the same point: the root of our suffering is the ignorance that cherishes a self. Note also that the Big Book says that our troubles arise out of ourselves. That's karma! It's uncanny how deep the parallels run when one looks at it in the right way!

Cherokee Purification Prayer

A friend of mine emailed me this prayer, and it's really cool!

" Great Spirit (U-ne-qua), whose voice I hear in the wind,
Whose breath gives life to all the world. Hear me;
I need your strength and wisdom.
Let me walk in beauty, and make my eyes ever behold the red and purple
sunset.
Make my hands respect the things you have made and my ears sharp to hear
your voice.
Make me wise so that I may understand the things you have taught my people.
Help me to remain calm and strong in the face of all that comes towards me.
Let me learn the lessons you have hidden in every leaf and rock.
Help me seek pure thoughts and act with the intention of helping others.
Help me find compassion without empathy overwhelming me.
I seek strength, not to be greater than my brother, but to fight my greatest
enemy MYSELF.
Make me always ready to come to you with clean hands and straight eyes.
So when life fades, as the fading sunset, my spirit may come to you without
shame