Anam Thubten Rimpoche, Dharmata Foundation
Buddha-hood is the discovery of freedom. This is not freedom from the outside but freedom from within. It is freedom from our own mind distorting reality. As long as we are looking for freedom from outside we are doing the wrong thing and the fundamental suffering of hope and fear will perpetuate.
Buddha-hood is the discovery of freedom. This is not freedom from the outside but freedom from within. It is freedom from our own mind distorting reality. As long as we are looking for freedom from outside we are doing the wrong thing and the fundamental suffering of hope and fear will perpetuate.
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Real freedom is freedom from our own conceptions, from the psychological veil that is distorting the way things are. When we are free from our own unenlightened mind, that internal veil, we see that even our problems are divine. Everything is a manifestation of great emptiness. That means that everything is divine. We have to love everything including the dark side of the world. We have to love whatever life presents to us. Are we ready to let go of all of our resistance and see all of life as divine, as a manifestation of Supreme Source? This is a practical discipline.
When we are encountering difficulties in life can we simply learn how to love what is? When things are falling apart, when we are having bad hair days, when life is mistreating us, can we find a way to love it? Some day we are all going to die. We may die alone or we may die surrounded by friends. No one knows how or when they will die. But we all have to find a way to love that we are dying.
What is happening to us right now? Are we dis-liking reality? We have a simple goal – to love all of reality. We have to love everything. We are always relating to reality based on preconceived notions rather than the way things are. Things are perfectly perfect the way they are. Confidence is knowing that everything is perfect. We all have moments of being completely melted, moments when we surrender our ego completely. There is the possibility of being in that place every moment. This requires work, the work of reflection and meditation practice.
Our greatest karmic tendency is that we feel we need to have control of everything. We need to control our reality. What is the opposite of this? It is to wait and do nothing.
Sometimes we feel that we are dancing in an ocean of ecstasy. But sometimes we lose our awareness and we get lost in confusion. We merely have to wait. We don't know how to wait. We have to do something. All of our habits of tension well up. We want to declare a national emergency in our own world.
All human beings hate waiting. I remember being in India and waiting in line for train tickets. People were pushing and shoving because they couldn't stand waiting. We have tremendous aversion to waiting. Ego is afraid of not knowing. Our idea of certainty is based on ego. Our mind has to be preoccupied by notions that there is security and certainty in every moment. Ego needs to hear, "Everything is secure." Ego is terrified of uncertainty. Ego can't accept reality.
It takes many years of meditation to realize that we have no conflict with reality. This absence of conflict, this acceptance of all conditions and events as a perfect display of Supreme Source is very simple and portable knowledge. We have never had a conflict with reality.
Whenever you feel conflict remember, "This is not my problem. I have no problem with reality. This is ego's problem." Ego is always insecure and falling apart. Reality is mighty. It rules the whole of existence. When you are able to surrender to reality, you will experience a great awakening. The act of surrendering to reality is enlightenment. It happens suddenly, spontaneously, at a very unexpected moment.... Read more
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