Selamat pagi! Good morning Monday. Well, were now just 4 days away for Chenrezig Drubchen. Still havent registered for the event? Please go to our top post to find out how to be involved. Tonight we will be doing Dhammapada study at 7 pm. Join us for some fun Dharma learning. **********Dharma Quote of the Day********* [Reflecting on impermanence of life is not pessimism, in fact its optimism about life; there are plenty of benefits to do so. Here are some…] Why are we encouraged to contemplate on impermanence? i) Teaches us to be alert and mindful in making right efforts, ii) Heps us see our present opportunity to study the Dharma and experience religious practice as the most worthwhile and beneficial work we can possibly do. The best way to show respect to the Buddhas is to recollect their teachings on the impermanence of all phenomena, which they consider to be the most profound of all doctrines, because it alone can instill in human minds the requisite degree of renunciation to allow all subsequent states of the spiritual path to unfold. Unless you have learned to disentangle your mind from preoccupation with worldly affairs, you will not be able to attune it to the holy phenomena that arise through right practice of the path. When you have developed this spirit of renunciation through remembering impermanence, you will be well established on the path. Finally, a mind influenced by these reflections will be oriented toward beneficial, wholesome matters….. When you seriously admit to consciousness the recognition that you are destined to live only a short while, that human life is by its nature very brief, that the minutes and hours, months and years are passing by at a very rapid rate, that everything you do and every minute that passes only bring you closer to that inevitable time when you have to leave the affairs of this world, and that this is the nature of all conditioned phenomena – then you can appreciate that some things are a waste of time. People who have set their minds solely on the affairs of this world don’t think about whether or not these affairs are really worth such valuable time. But someone who recollects the teachings on impermanence can very quickly decide what is worthwhile and what is not, and will soon become discriminating about his actions. He will be interested in developing wholesome ways of conduct that will sustain him not only in this life but in future lifetimes, and will not be inclined to act blindly or immorally simply to achieve some short-range advantage. … The reflection on impermanence also leads us to face up to our own morality and recognize that destruction is the fate of all conditioned phenomena. By “conditioned phenomena” we mean anything that arises through causes and that is dependent on other causes and conditions. Any animate or inanimate phenomenon whose existence is brought about through other conditions or causes is a conditioned phenomenon; human beings also quality for that status. When you recognize that everything that is brought into existence inevitably has destruction lying in store for it, you realize that you yourself are not exempt from this natural process; indeed, from the very moment of conception everyone proceeds towards death, and every second that passes leads inexorably toward that moment….have you heard of anyone who is exempt from old age and death, and do you have any reason for thinking that somehow you will escape this same fate? It is quite certain that you will die, so it is better to face up to this aspect of your situation, especially when it can serve you in a very salutary way. By remember that death is certain and that the time of death is uncertain, you can make the best possible use of the time, life, and energies you now have. Among all animate beings, we have only to look at the enlightened ones. The body of the Buddha was compounded not of defilements (as are those of ordinary beings) but of the great merit he had acquired, yet even his pure body was impermanent. What to say, then, of our own insubstantial bodies, born as a result of karmic propensity and delusion?....The point is that we should give up the fond delusion that our bodies, to which we are so attached and on which we lavish so much tender loving care, are going to endure. No matter how much we love them, they will not last long, and because they are transitory by their very nature, they are deceitful. In other words, these bodies deceive us in that, through our attachment to them, we spend an immoderate amount of energy caring for their comfort, indulging in sense gratification, and so forth. In short, because of them we are accumulating unwholesome karma that is not in our own best interests.” - Excerpt taken from The Three Levels of Spiritual Perception – A Commentary on The Three Visions, by H.E. Deshung Rinpoche, translated by Jared Rhoton. *H.E. Tulku Deshung Rinpoche (1906-1987), an important Sakya teacher renowned for his vast learning and realization, who lived the later part of his life, from 1960 onwards, in Seattle, USA, where he taught a number of the worlds leading Tibetan scholars. He was a student of Jamyang Khyentse Chökyi Lodrö and many other masters.
Posted on: Mon, 20 Oct 2014 11:43:25 +0000
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