the bridle meditations · this is how we turn the mind into an ally.” (turning the mind into an...
Post on 20-Jun-2020
3 Views
Preview:
TRANSCRIPT
The Bridle
Meditations:
Compassion
• “One of my teachers tells a story about the time
when, as a young seeker in Nepal, he started having
intensely blissful meditative experiences and thought
they must indicate some kind of momentous spiritual
progress. He sat down with his teacher, a seasoned
old Tibetan lama, and began to describe the
experiences. The lama cut him off with a single
question: ‘Have they increased your compassion for
all beings?’ Well, no, they hadn't. ‘Then they don't
mean a thing.’ (p. 30-31)
• Kindness, it turns out, is the way to liberate not only
others but ourselves. (p. 34)
• And still, sometimes the road rage wins. The truth is,
it's a long-term project: over and over again, we just have to
keep choosing kindness. There's always a range of
actions of which we're capable. Above a certain
threshold we can't be that saintly (yet), and below
another threshold we can't be that vicious (anymore).
The trick is to keep leaning, gently but steadily, toward the
uppermost level of your range. That way you're always doing
the best that can be done by the person you are today and
pushing your upper threshold a little higher for tomorrow.”
(The Zen Commandments, Dean Sluyter, pp. 38-39)
• “With this experience (living meditatively), we can
cultivate our garden. The flowers of love,
compassion, and wisdom gradually take over, and the
weeds of anger, jealousy, and self-involvement have
less and less room to grow. In peaceful abiding we
become familiar with the ground of basic goodness.
This is how we turn the mind into an ally.”
(Turning the Mind into an Ally, Sakyong Mipham, p. 34)
• Beloved, Neutral, Angsters!
• Meditative Good Will, Letting Go
top related