18/04/2024
From time to time I dedicate some moments to clearing house...which means getting rid of attachments...things that are around me that I will not carry forward beyond this lifetime...sometimes I come across very interesting tid bits...as happened yesterday. I found a meditation practice called the Tonglen Practice...giving and receiving...I posted this years ago but coming upon it yesterday i thought " I will post this again as it seems very relevant to what we are living in our planetary evolution so perhaps some people will find it helpful." I learned the practice 40 or 50 years ago...I had just returned from Thailand where I had been interned in a Buddhist monastery for a short time. The experience changed me profoundly and I wanted to follow up when I returned to Canada...so I asked around...and as often happens when i ask around I find what I need..and I began studying at Karma Choling, a Buddhist monastery in Barnet, Vermont. The teacher there was Chogyam Rimpoche who was known as a "crazy wisdom teacher" because of his rather unorthodox lifestyle and manner of being...I am very grateful to him for sharing this meditation and much more. I have a adapted the practice a little to my own needs and perhaps you will do the same but essentially what I am sharing here is what I was taught at that time....I think of this practice as "post therapy"...Why do I say that? Well, traditional therapy is essentially about the "Me Story" as I call it...and each of us has a story...a story of trauma...of dis ease and a general questioning about who we are and what we should be doing in this lifetime...Therapy teaches us to strengthen our basic sense of ego....to feel grounded and confident in life...It should come to an end at some point..maybe three years...that dependency ends and we are more or less alone again. except that we have a complete ego to accompany us..What will we do with this ego?...For those who understand what's going on and want to move on the real work begins...Perhaps the same questions ...who am I. and why am I here?...but without the emotional baggage we carried into our therapy...so now we can get on with the difficult task of being of service to the rest of the world while at the same time making a living and developing a relationship with the True Self which is to be found in the lotus of the heart...Having said all that the meditation is as follows...You might do it in the traditional sitting position or perhaps it would be nice to do it while walking outdoors in the forest or by a river or the ocean..You will know where is best for you...Now comes the shocker...The object of this meditation is to break down our territoriality...my space...my things...my beliefs...my God and so on...breathe out all that we hold precious and breathe in all that is negative...Maybe you should read that again because it is exactly the opposite to what you learned in therapy about setting boundaries and establishing good defenses...and I am not suggesting you drop all those things.... we need defenses in this world...but in this meditation we have made a big jump...from our rational mind to our superconscious or intuitional mind...so we might have some resistance to this approach..but if you are still with me don't sweat the small stuff. about trying to understand what we are doing.. just do your best..Now get into the flow of your breathing...perhaps deepen it a little...after a moment or two imagine that you are actually drawing breath right down through the crown of your head...This is where your soul resides so now you are. charging your energy battery using energy that is available to you for your whole lifetime. Let it pass right through your body and out of your feet into the arms of Mother Earth. Allow some of this in breath to rest in your heart...let your heart expand a little by giving thanks for who you are and where you have come to on your Earth Walk...Feel the warmth and love of your own existence...Once you have done this focus on someone who you feel has sacrificed themselves on your behalf or who has given you a lot. Begin to send them the very best of who you are. Don't hold anything back...allow that feeling to flow from your heart and down you arms and hands out to them. The idea is to be truly generous and open...get beyond your nice thoughts and words and good intentions and make this a true offering of love. ..If you connect with this practice you will experience some changes in yourself...the main one being that you will not feel empty or fearful from giving so much of your goodness to someone else...You will feel energized...as if you would like to go on giving for a long long time. You will be touching into an unlimited resevoir of love and generosity and the more you send the fuller you will feel. Remember don't wish for anything...just do the practice...What you have done so far is complete in itself and you can stop here...or you can follow on. If you are still with me we are going to focus on people with whom we are not in harmony...where anger, passion and indifference separate us from loving. We live in a time of war and disagreement..of judgement and selfishness and we can actually think of tribes and nations here...take it beyond the individual level if you like. Now we are going to do something completely contrary to our natural instincts..Instead of pushing the negative thoughts and feelings away we are going to draw them in. We are going to draw in all the hatred and rejection...resentment and so on..into ourselves. Remember that you have just created an unlimited space of joy and generosity inside yourself...and you have an opportunity to see if it was just an interesting little something or other or if it really means something. Focus on the person or group who evokes these negative feelings...now begin to inhale these negative feelings..."they are so horrible...so greedy...so destructive. ..and so on"...ask them to give you their hatred...their racism...their arrogance...their stupidity...the list can be a long one...because of course the list is a list of your own projections...Remember to focus on your breath and keep a steady rhythm as you do this...Again, don't wish for anything. Just do the practice...Surprisingly, you will find that rather than being upset you will experience relief...a kind of expansion in the body...Instead of closing up and shutting down you may feel more alive and open...Keep the tap open as long as you like and then bring your hands together in front of your heart in the Prayer Position and stabilize your breathing...You might want to close with a small prayer or a sacred sound..." With our ears may we hear what is good. With our eyes may we see righteousness.Tranquil in body may we who worship truth find rest...Aum" The Upanishads
