Harmony of The Way

16/09/2025

Dear friends, beginning Thursday 18th we enter into the world of Ta**ra. All are welcome.
The essence of Ta**ra is to see the sacred in our reality.
We will be working with the Divine Mother in her fierce aspect as the remover of ego. Her name Vajrayogini means the indestructible Divine Goddess. This is the one who doesn't cuddle us, or debate with us or intellectualise. She unflinchingly removes our ego.
She is emptiness, ultimate truth.
We turn to Her for Liberation from our false self.
Bliss comes when the ego is absent.

Lama Noah Samarkand

www.harmonyoftheway.co.uk

05/09/2025

02/09/2025

Special advice from our beloved lineage master.
Eight Verses for Training the Mind by Geshe Langri Thangpa

Verse 1: Always Hold Others as Dear and Precious

By thinking of all sentient beings,
As more precious than a wish-fulfilling jewel,
For accomplishing the highest aim,
I will always hold them supremely dear.

Verse 2: Consider Myself as the Lowest among All

Whenever I am in the company of others,
May I regard myself as the lowest of all,
And from the depths of my heart,
Cherish others as supreme.

Verse 3: Avert Afflictions as Soon as They Arise

In my every action, I will watch my mind,
And the moment destructive emotions arise,
I will confront and avert them strongly,
As they will destroy both myself and others.

Verse 4: May I Cherish This Precious Treasure

Whenever I see beings who are wicked in nature,
Or those overwhelmed by negativities and suffering,
I will cherish them as something rare,
As though I had found a priceless treasure.

Verse 5: Accept the Loss on Oneself and Give the Victory to Others

Whenever someone out of envy,
Treats me unfairly with scolding, insults, and more,
May I accept the loss upon myself
And offer the victory to others.

Verse 6: View Those Who Harm us as Spiritual Teachers

Even when someone whom I have helped,
Or in whom I have placed great hopes,
Harms me very unfairly,
May I view that person as a true spiritual teacher.

Verse 7: Taking and Giving

In short, both directly or indirectly,
May I offer every happiness and benefit to all my mothers,
And secretly take upon myself,
All the harm and suffering of my mothers.

Verse 8: All Things Are Like Illusions

I will learn to keep all these practices,
Untainted by thoughts of the eight worldly concerns.
May I recognize all phenomena are like illusions,
And, without any clinging, gain freedom from bo***ge.

Harmony of the Way is a meditation centre based in the Scottish Borders

31/08/2025

All Sufis of the white lodge state that one must follow the Divine Law.
The Divine Law is an expression of the Divine state. The greatest Sufi of Tibet Tsongkhapa exemplified this quote from the principles of sufism 'Outward religious practice not confirmed by inner reality is not acceptable. Inner reality not anchored by outward religious practice is not acceptable. Divine law brings obligation upon the creation, while the Way is founded upon the free action (or experience) of the real. The Divine Law is that you serve Him. The Way is that you see Him.' Al-Qushayri
The Way is called the six perfections: giving, ethics, patience, joyful effort, mental peace and insight.
Until we realise ultimate truth we engage in ethics. As we still have an ego our ethics need work, effort, and many times we fall. We may still drink, take advantage of people, say hurtful comments etc.
When we realise selflessness our ethics are perfected. We effortlessly engage in perfect ethics. We effortlessly engage in what was previously 'practice'. It is no longer practice it becomes who we are. We effortlessly give, are ethical, patient etc
They are called perfections because there is no longer a person to get in the way of the Divine Law expressing in creation.
Beware, deeply beware of the black lodge which seeks to pervert ethics and make people doubt what the path of heart is.
The great ones, Gautama, Jesus and Muhammad (peace be upon them), clearly demonstrated ethical discipline.
They clearly demonstrated that to know if someone has attained to the Divine they will automatically follow the Divine Law - which is ethics.
If a spiritual guide is subverting Divine Law there are too many Sufis to quote who wrote warnings that these people are black magicians tricking your mind and using your doubt for their gain.

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27/08/2025

"I am led by the spirit of the Divine, therefore I am the son of God. The spirit itself bears witness with my spirit that I am the son of God. I have not received the spirit as a bo***ge but as a way of entering the family of God whereby I cry Father, my Beloved.
The spirit itself bears witness with my spirit that I am the son of God.
If I am the son then I am the heir, heir of God and joint heir with Christ."
Bible, Romans 8:14 first person vernacular.

26/08/2025

Life is incomprehensible to the mind.
As we have found ourselves mysteriously in a human form we are by nature in duality.
This means we experience anger, doubt, frustration, arrogance, pride, confusion, fear, worry, stress etc.
Before we meet the Dharma we tend to try and solve these troubles with drugs, entertainment, work, money, chat, gossip, status, power etc.
This doesn't work except in very short moments of relief.
In essence we live in total denial of how we are by always trying to escape from how we feel.
When we start to practice Dharma we actually have moments of transforming our anger into patience, our doubt into confidence, our frustration into contentment, our arrogance into love, our pride into humility, our confusion into wisdom etc
We do this by confronting the situation directly.
It is wonderful.
What can happen, when we're starting, is we may start 'magical bypassing' in which we think people who have been practising Dharma for some time no longer experience these difficulties.
Everyone does.
The difference is the Dharma gets easier and is a very powerful method for transforming these difficulties.
Very quickly we can change our habits in a very dynamic way but we're still human. There is never any pretence we're not. The Dharma practitioner learns not to repress and not to indulge these afflictive states that arise from a consciousness afflicted at it's root by dualism.
A fully enlightened Buddha does not.
If you're unsure what a fully enlightened Buddha can do study the Dharma. For one thing they can emanate multiple bodies of themselves across the planet to help and guide people. If you can't do that yet then you're not a Buddha. This means we humbly keep at the path.
The path is sooooo joyful because WE CAN transform mental afflictions and IT DOES get a lot easier as we practice.
Those sweet first steps when we realise we don't have to follow our anger and we can turn that same energy into love are priceless and we must honour them deeply. Being on the path becomes a sweet delight. The end of the path is delight of delight of the light.

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21/08/2025

"Your task is not to seek for love, but merely to seek and find all the barriers within yourself that you have built against it" Rumi Buddha
"I teach only two things: what suffering is and how to end suffering." Shakyamuni Buddha.
In Gnostic dharma our life becomes truly precious when we follow the advice of these two Buddhas.
They teach here that our nature is pure happiness. We must observe and understand how we prevent what is already within us from flowering into beauty. Beauty is the heart of the tree of life. It is also called Bodhichitta. Nothing is as beautiful as someone who can be happy.

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20/08/2025

Guru yoga enables us to practice correct devotion to the virtuous friend with thought and action but what is it? Guru yoga is a process, through logic, quotations and meditation, of transforming the mind that sees the guru as an ordinary being into the devotion that sees the guru as a buddha, a fully enlightened being, one who has ceased all faults and completed all qualities, or realizations. After proving to ourselves that the guru is a buddha, we then meditate on the guru in the aspect of the special deity that we practice.

If we visualize the deity in front of us but regard our own guru as ordinary and separate from that deity, then even though we might say that we are practicing guru yoga, what we are doing is not even a part of guru yoga meditation. Drogön Tsangpa Gyare said, “If you look at the guru and deity as separate, you can’t receive blessings.” This means that you can’t achieve attainments.

We have to constantly see the guru as in essence our own personal deity, the one with which we have strong karmic contact. No matter how many gurus we have, we have to regard them all as embodiments of this deity. All the time, when we eat, drink, sleep or do any other activity, we practice being one with this deity. And just as we always have the divine pride and clear appearance of being this deity, we also see the guru as this deity.

On top of that, we constantly meditate that our mind, as well as our body and speech, is unified with the guru and our special deity. This is the ta***ic practice of guru yoga.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche

19/08/2025

Today friendship is understood either in biological terms or in economic terms, or in sociological terms — in terms of acquaintance, a kind of acquaintance. But friendship means that if the need arises you will be ready even to sacrifice yourself. Friendship means that you have made somebody else more important than yourself; somebody else has become more precious than you yourself. It is not a business. It is love in its purity.

This friendship is possible even the way you are now. Even unconscious people can have such a friendship. But if you start becoming more conscious of your being, then friendship starts turning into friendliness.

Friendliness has a wider connotation, a far bigger sky.

Friendship is a small thing compared to friendliness.

Friendship can be broken, the friend can turn into an enemy. That possibility remains intrinsic in the very fact of friendship.

I am reminded of Machiavelli giving guidance to the princes of the world in his great work, The Prince. One of his guidelines is, Never tell anything to your friend which you would not be able to say to your enemy, because the person who is a friend today may turn into an enemy tomorrow.

And the suggestion following that is, Never say anything against the enemy, because the enemy can turn into a friend tomorrow. Then you will be very embarrassed.

Machiavelli is giving a very clear insight: that our ordinary love can change into hate, our friendship can become enmity any moment.

This is the unconscious state of man — where love is hiding hate just behind it, where you hate the same person you love but you are not aware of it.

Friendliness becomes possible only when you are real, you are authentic, and you are absolutely aware of your being

And out of this awareness, if love arises it will be friendliness.

Friendliness can never change into its opposite.

Remember this as a criterion, that the greatest values of life are only those which cannot change into their opposite; in fact there is no opposite...

0sho

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18/08/2025

Tomorrow aug 19th we begin a daily exploration of the Gnostic path or Lamrim, for one cycle, in preperation of our new term on Ta**ra. The internal realisations of reality.
The root, growth and flourishing of the path is faith or confidence. To attain faith or confidence it is impossible to do this by thinking alone. As human beings it is a scientific fact that we learn by mirroring through other humans. The Mahayana path begins when love emerges in our being as our motivator. It is impossible to develop love if we don't engage with people. In Ta**ra, the Vajrayana path, we see God here and now in everyone. This is impossible unless we can see God here and now in at least one person.
This view of seeing humans as divine is called Yoga of the beloved friend - Guru Yoga.
Who is a spiritual friend?
At the very least, it is said, they are someone with a good heart and know a bit more than us on the path. This can be enough for us to develop faith or confidence in spiritual realities and to know that we ourselves can improve.

A good Lama will be a 10 on the enneagram.
They will be constant and engage in the divine work. Sober and patient they will be a type 1 at their best moving into the 7.
They will be very clear, present, able to answer your questions in an impartial manner. They will be logical, studious and knowledgeable. They will be a type 7 at their best moving into the 5.
They will be truthful, merciful and innocent. Totally passionate about the dharma and challenging us to live life in truth. They will be a type 5 at their best moving into the 8.
They will be totally free in their expression and humble in their honesty. Naturally giving their energy to others through the dharmic path they will be a type 8 at their best moving into the 2.
They will be a contemplative, grateful and emotionally balanced. Naturally able to creatively explore themselves. They will be a type 2 at their best moving into the 4.
They will live a right way of life, in peace and serenity. Everything is taken to be perfect as it is. They will be a type 4 at their best moving into the 1.
They will have complete confidence in the path, faith in their Guru and totally loyal to the dharma. Their courage to be themselves will shine. They will be a type 3 at their best moving into the 6.
They will be able to see all sides, positions and reveal solutions. They will be loving, engaged and manifest right action. They will be a type 6 at their best moving into the 9.
They will be authentic and honest with a profound sense of knowing it's all good. Living from the heart they will work tirelessly on the path. They will be a type 9 at their best moving into the 3.

Our Lama, our guide, our teacher is a mirror for us to establish faith and confidence in ourselves. To find the freedom, fluidity and joy of presence, that is beyond a fixed personality type.
Put in a more colloquial way our spiritual friend who exemplifies for us the type 10 (that is someone who moves into all 9 types of energy and is not identified with any)
Will be goofy, silly, comfortable in what seem to us 'childlike' things. Reading comic books, playing games with children, and dancing. In dharma they are not fixed to any dogmatic system but move consistently to any new ground like an adventurer. The 7.
They will be good students, readers, able to study scripture and apply logical and critical thinking. It will be clear they enjoy studying the dharma. The 5.
It will be clear they are passionate about the dharma, as Tsongkhapa said 'one will have an insatiable desire for the dharma'. They will demonstrate challenging the self, striving to go deeper into the path. They will be difficult to ignore. The 8.
They will always be available to help, guide, protect and be a good friend. They will appear sweet and friendly able to chat about anything and make everyone feel included. The 2.
They will be creative, poetic, able to express metaphoric language. Easily able to be alone and to be at total ease with the shadow side of life. Able to stand outside the normal perspective and give balanced knowledge. The 4.
Our guide will be serene, not provoked by anger or angry people. They will be endlessly patient with our progress on the path like a loving parent. The 1.
They will by loyal, no matter when we go astray they will welcome us back. They will have courage in the dharma, courage to express themselves creatively, new and fresh. Loyal to truth not dogmas. The 6.
They will have the gift of listening, able to see all sides and perspectives. They are very good at discerning what is the right action. They will be engaged with you when you're with them as if they are just a simple ordinary person exactly like you. The 9.
They will practice, they will know and enjoy techniques. They will speak from their heart, not politically correct, but present what the person needs to hear to feel comfortable. Their intensity for the dharma will be obvious. The 3.

In our lineage we grapple with a very challenging statement made by the master 'In these times I would rather you were spiritual guides than buddhas.'
We can understand this to mean it is not enough just to have internal freedom we must develop the ability to express and guide others.
A symbol for this is becoming an enneagram type 10 or type 0 however you want to look at that?
Find someone and develop the totality of the self.
Be loose, playful, childlike, studious, logical, challenging, passionate, helpful, humble, kind, alone, deep, adult, illogical, serene, patient, courageous, loyal, open, engaged, practical, and loving.
Be unable to pin down. This doesn't mean in terms of what people think about you. It means you cannot define yourself, you don't define yourself, you cannot find yourself. You are freedom itself.
May God guide us to knowing and love.

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13/08/2025

A disciple asked a master of Zen Buddhism:

"Master, Do I possess Buddha's nature?”

And the master answered him. "No, you do not.

The disciple replies, "But, I heard that the stones have Buddha nature; the plants have their Buddha nature; animals have theirs, and all of us people have Buddha nature."

Then the Zen master says "Yes, it is true: the stones, plants, animals, people have Buddha nature, but you do not."

“Why?” Asked the disciple.

“Because you are asking about it.”

In our Dharma lineage the internal realisation of knowledge is called refuge. Our internal realisations of direct experience creates a trust in the Buddha.
The internal knowledge of transformation is called 'path', like every single thing in existence this follows law or Dharma.
We will start our practice group into the depth of this law unfolding on Monday 18th.
In our lineage this is called 'Lamrim' which means stages of the path.

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03/07/2025

Ta**ra is for those with a sense of humour. If you have bad knees sitting in full lotus is not a practice for you. If you have a bad back golf is not for you. If you have some kind of mental trauma one is very careful about what may trigger it and certain activities are not to be engaged in.
Like wise if you don't have an open heart and a sense of humour ta**ra is not your method.
If you are politically correct, if jokes have to be explained to you, if you can't take things with a pinch of salt, if you're 'thin' skinned ta**ra probably will not work for you.
Those with a sense of humour already, have an understanding of emptiness.
Chogyam Trungpa is reported to have said 'enlightenment is the perfection of humour'.
By understanding I do not mean intellectual, most people with a sense of humour will never have heard of 'emptiness' nevertheless their experience of life will be more fluid than someone who may have heard many teachings on non-duality but takes themselves too seriously.

Being able to laugh at oneself, seeing both sides of a situation, knowing things change - especially ourselves, an unshockable acceptance of the shadow side of ourselves and others. These are the qualities of someone for whom ta**ra will work.
Unfortunately most people take their personality very seriously and don't accept the diagnosis of Buddha doctors.

If you have been practising ta**ra for a while and not experiencing any results chances are you need to understand monty python more than Padmasambhava. You probably need a Mcdonalds more than your meditation cushion. A pint more than spirulina. Consult your Lama and ask them whole heartedly, 'Do I take my self too seriously?' And if you get offended by the answer - no matter what answer it is - the answer is yes!

A lot of people interpret bodhichitta as saving the world like a crusade. This is a sign you are missing humour and taking yourself too seriously. If you go into ta**ra with that milieu chances are it wont have the desired result.

One can learn to laugh. You can laugh at this post. Or you can take it really seriously. As Osho said 'Be a joke unto yourself.' May you be blessed with laughter and joy.

Mahamudra is eternal laughter Om Hrih Ha Ha Hum Hum Phat!

Our eternal laughter retreat begins July 4th.

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