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Buddhist Sangha of Bucks County
A 501c3 Non-Profit Organization
HOSTED LAMA GURSAM FOR A
ONE-DAY RETREAT AT THE
YARDLEY FRIENDS MEETING HOUSE
June 2009
THANK YOU LAMA GURSAM
Notes from Lama Gursam retreat June 2009
It is said that there are 84,000 teachings of the Buddha. All are about
compassion. Compassion comes from loving kindness, the wish that everyone
be happy. First cultivate compassion, then understanding of emptiness comes.
The same root quality connects all of us. All of us have buddha nature. All of
us want to be happy. Once you see this you feel loving kindness and
compassion for all.
The mantra of compassion is Om Mani Padme Hung. Om means enlightened in
body, mind, and speech. Mani means jewel, precious compassion, completely
pure energy. It is precious because it is difficult to achieve. Padme means
lotus. It represents compassion itself.
Advise for meditation –
Rest in your natural state by staying aware. The point is awareness. Don’t
chase your thoughts or judge them. You can’t push them away, just let them
come. Neither accept them, nor reject them. Inner happiness that comes from
understanding is constant. The nature of the natural world is to be variable- up
and down, come and go, so too will outer happiness come and go, therefore
meditate.
Using the metaphor of boiling water on a stove - if your water is on the
stove, it won’t boil by itself. You need to turn it on, apply effort. If you don’t
have a gas stove you need more effort to collect wood and build a fire. If you
don’t have skill, it will be difficult and take a long time to get your water to boil.
When water boils for an extended time it makes sounds as it boils and it
becomes free from any impurity. Just so, when you meditate: it takes
continuous effort; in the beginning you may feel calm, then things warm up,
wisdom fire will arise and burn away impurities. It takes time, skillful methods
and experience. The truth is that things will come up, to remain calm in the face
of this takes perseverance and patience in order to maintain continuous
meditation.
If you get sleepy in meditation, it’s important to wake up to this. If
sleepiness arises, gently open your eyes a little bit. Chasing thoughts is
another challenge. This can be a sign that you are too tight physically or your
awareness is too tight and so your mind tries to run away. Meditative focus
should be not too tight, not too loose. Tight leads to chasing thoughts, loose
leads to sleepiness.
The most important technique is awareness of the quality and energy
of your breathing. It should be not too loud, not too fast, a gentle middle path.
Breathe in through your nostrils and bring the breath to a point just below the
navel, this brings stability. When challenges come up, you can breathe
strongly for a bit. Concentrate on the breathing itself, focus on the breath
rather than on the thought. Things will arise- unexpected things, past
experiences, things you feel no connection to. From a mountain view, the sky
can be perfectly clear one minute, then the next minute clouds appear. Clouds
follow the energy of the wind, wind rises, clouds follow. Breathing is our wind
energy and it directly connects the energy of our mind and heart. When the
sun shines on a snowy mountain, the ice has no choice but to melt. In
meditation, as internal wisdom fire arises, all negativities have no choice but to
transform into wisdom.
Challenging thoughts will arise again and again but will eventually lose power,
no longer bother us. It takes time, but with continuous training it is possible.
Challenging thoughts get their power when we reject them and try to push
them away and when we accept them by holding strongly to them. Meditation
practice releases them and compassion and kindness towards self arises. So it’
s not an obstacle that things arise as challenges. It’s natural, we’re not
enlightened yet. Don’t take any challenges too seriously or personally, just be
aware of it and continue meditating. When good things come, enjoy them.
When challenges come, don’t judge, just be awareness. Like the view from a
plane, clouds remain at the bottom but higher up they are no longer. Clouds
are not separate, don’t just arise; they come from the energy of space and
water. When you look at nature in the moment, it is no longer as solid as you
thought, it transforms and is now awareness.
Perseverance and patience are most important, during meditation and during
ordinary life. Lama recommends that we read and reread the life story of
Milarepa to encourage and bless us. Also encouragement comes from
practicing with the sangha. Skillful methods are not enough. We need wisdom
awareness as well. These are like two wings that can’t be separated – can’t fly
with one, we need both. Method is perseverance and patience, wisdom is
awareness.
Meditation works just fine whether you believe in Buddhist teachings or not. It is
proven to help your health; physically, emotionally, interpersonally. The main
point is there has to be practice. Practice and practice and a truly warm feeling
towards others will naturally arise.
A 501c3 Non-Profit Organization
HOSTED LAMA GURSAM FOR A
ONE-DAY RETREAT AT THE
YARDLEY FRIENDS MEETING HOUSE
June 2009
THANK YOU LAMA GURSAM
Notes from Lama Gursam retreat June 2009
It is said that there are 84,000 teachings of the Buddha. All are about
compassion. Compassion comes from loving kindness, the wish that everyone
be happy. First cultivate compassion, then understanding of emptiness comes.
The same root quality connects all of us. All of us have buddha nature. All of
us want to be happy. Once you see this you feel loving kindness and
compassion for all.
The mantra of compassion is Om Mani Padme Hung. Om means enlightened in
body, mind, and speech. Mani means jewel, precious compassion, completely
pure energy. It is precious because it is difficult to achieve. Padme means
lotus. It represents compassion itself.
Advise for meditation –
Rest in your natural state by staying aware. The point is awareness. Don’t
chase your thoughts or judge them. You can’t push them away, just let them
come. Neither accept them, nor reject them. Inner happiness that comes from
understanding is constant. The nature of the natural world is to be variable- up
and down, come and go, so too will outer happiness come and go, therefore
meditate.
Using the metaphor of boiling water on a stove - if your water is on the
stove, it won’t boil by itself. You need to turn it on, apply effort. If you don’t
have a gas stove you need more effort to collect wood and build a fire. If you
don’t have skill, it will be difficult and take a long time to get your water to boil.
When water boils for an extended time it makes sounds as it boils and it
becomes free from any impurity. Just so, when you meditate: it takes
continuous effort; in the beginning you may feel calm, then things warm up,
wisdom fire will arise and burn away impurities. It takes time, skillful methods
and experience. The truth is that things will come up, to remain calm in the face
of this takes perseverance and patience in order to maintain continuous
meditation.
If you get sleepy in meditation, it’s important to wake up to this. If
sleepiness arises, gently open your eyes a little bit. Chasing thoughts is
another challenge. This can be a sign that you are too tight physically or your
awareness is too tight and so your mind tries to run away. Meditative focus
should be not too tight, not too loose. Tight leads to chasing thoughts, loose
leads to sleepiness.
The most important technique is awareness of the quality and energy
of your breathing. It should be not too loud, not too fast, a gentle middle path.
Breathe in through your nostrils and bring the breath to a point just below the
navel, this brings stability. When challenges come up, you can breathe
strongly for a bit. Concentrate on the breathing itself, focus on the breath
rather than on the thought. Things will arise- unexpected things, past
experiences, things you feel no connection to. From a mountain view, the sky
can be perfectly clear one minute, then the next minute clouds appear. Clouds
follow the energy of the wind, wind rises, clouds follow. Breathing is our wind
energy and it directly connects the energy of our mind and heart. When the
sun shines on a snowy mountain, the ice has no choice but to melt. In
meditation, as internal wisdom fire arises, all negativities have no choice but to
transform into wisdom.
Challenging thoughts will arise again and again but will eventually lose power,
no longer bother us. It takes time, but with continuous training it is possible.
Challenging thoughts get their power when we reject them and try to push
them away and when we accept them by holding strongly to them. Meditation
practice releases them and compassion and kindness towards self arises. So it’
s not an obstacle that things arise as challenges. It’s natural, we’re not
enlightened yet. Don’t take any challenges too seriously or personally, just be
aware of it and continue meditating. When good things come, enjoy them.
When challenges come, don’t judge, just be awareness. Like the view from a
plane, clouds remain at the bottom but higher up they are no longer. Clouds
are not separate, don’t just arise; they come from the energy of space and
water. When you look at nature in the moment, it is no longer as solid as you
thought, it transforms and is now awareness.
Perseverance and patience are most important, during meditation and during
ordinary life. Lama recommends that we read and reread the life story of
Milarepa to encourage and bless us. Also encouragement comes from
practicing with the sangha. Skillful methods are not enough. We need wisdom
awareness as well. These are like two wings that can’t be separated – can’t fly
with one, we need both. Method is perseverance and patience, wisdom is
awareness.
Meditation works just fine whether you believe in Buddhist teachings or not. It is
proven to help your health; physically, emotionally, interpersonally. The main
point is there has to be practice. Practice and practice and a truly warm feeling
towards others will naturally arise.
