"Of the two witnesses, hold the principal one."
Lojong Teaching Slogan
People love to give advice--especially if it isn't about a tough situation that they are involved with. It makes them (us) feel important and useful. Advice from afar can, possibly, hold some amount of wisdom. We know that everybody has potential Enlightenment in their centers--it's a good idea to hear everybody out. However, ultimately, it comes down to heeding what your own Soul/Mind/Center says.
Pema Chodron, the great Buddhist Nun and teacher, tells us that all dharmas agree at one crucial point: ONLY we know what is happening, inside.
Only us.
What we are running from; what we are confronting; what we are denying; what we are expecting; what we are holding tight; what we are letting go...this is the "who" of "who we are and are becoming". We can present a perfect façade to the outside world--sparkling clean; melodious; sweet smelling; all the right plastic and bling ; a perfect relationship; a perfect occupation; even an adoring entourage to "have our backs". However, unless we understand the costs (as well as benefits) from not only acquisition of such things, but also the retention of them and how they hinder or aid in our karmic journey, it is nothing. Shadows and smoke. (Pollution?)
Only if we come to understand ourselves completely--all the hidden nooks and crannies--and are willing to face those ugly and lovely spaces--to take responsibility for them (wherever that leads)--will we attain the real answers we are searching out.
The weird part of what Buddhism teaches is that, eventually, it will happen to every sentient being. Actually, if we can just sit still and "listen", it will all come clean. (Understandable.) Clear. However, in this time of "hurry hurry hurry" and "disengage with anything not on a screen", sitting still and just "listening" is perhaps the hardest exercise of all. (Even in countries without access to "screen technology", the fall-out from the rest of us who do have access, impacts upon them. The detritus of our Westernized (shared global) culture forces even the most remote points of the planet to "hurry hurry hurry"--and to stress out--to fight.) So, teachings like the slogans, offer basic steps to learning how to slow down. To sit down. To listen to our Centers for the real answers.
We need to work with whatever comes to us in this world. To feel all it brings to face us. To see how it connects and informs our deepest self. Not to push the evidence out of our consciousness. Not to numb out--artificially or otherwise. Not even to struggle against this karma. We need to face ourselves honestly and then, as the Buddha suggests, to take our own best advice.
Other people aren't "wrong"--they just don't know the whole story.
That's up to each of us, ourselves.
Namaste.
Lojong Teaching Slogan
People love to give advice--especially if it isn't about a tough situation that they are involved with. It makes them (us) feel important and useful. Advice from afar can, possibly, hold some amount of wisdom. We know that everybody has potential Enlightenment in their centers--it's a good idea to hear everybody out. However, ultimately, it comes down to heeding what your own Soul/Mind/Center says.
Pema Chodron, the great Buddhist Nun and teacher, tells us that all dharmas agree at one crucial point: ONLY we know what is happening, inside.
Only us.
What we are running from; what we are confronting; what we are denying; what we are expecting; what we are holding tight; what we are letting go...this is the "who" of "who we are and are becoming". We can present a perfect façade to the outside world--sparkling clean; melodious; sweet smelling; all the right plastic and bling ; a perfect relationship; a perfect occupation; even an adoring entourage to "have our backs". However, unless we understand the costs (as well as benefits) from not only acquisition of such things, but also the retention of them and how they hinder or aid in our karmic journey, it is nothing. Shadows and smoke. (Pollution?)
Only if we come to understand ourselves completely--all the hidden nooks and crannies--and are willing to face those ugly and lovely spaces--to take responsibility for them (wherever that leads)--will we attain the real answers we are searching out.
The weird part of what Buddhism teaches is that, eventually, it will happen to every sentient being. Actually, if we can just sit still and "listen", it will all come clean. (Understandable.) Clear. However, in this time of "hurry hurry hurry" and "disengage with anything not on a screen", sitting still and just "listening" is perhaps the hardest exercise of all. (Even in countries without access to "screen technology", the fall-out from the rest of us who do have access, impacts upon them. The detritus of our Westernized (shared global) culture forces even the most remote points of the planet to "hurry hurry hurry"--and to stress out--to fight.) So, teachings like the slogans, offer basic steps to learning how to slow down. To sit down. To listen to our Centers for the real answers.
We need to work with whatever comes to us in this world. To feel all it brings to face us. To see how it connects and informs our deepest self. Not to push the evidence out of our consciousness. Not to numb out--artificially or otherwise. Not even to struggle against this karma. We need to face ourselves honestly and then, as the Buddha suggests, to take our own best advice.
Other people aren't "wrong"--they just don't know the whole story.
That's up to each of us, ourselves.
Namaste.
Gayle sent me your blog telling me it might ring true for me. It does ring loudly, thank you.
ReplyDeleteI, for one, give advise too freely all the while thinking I really haven't got enough wisdom to offer because I let the mental chatter possess me. It is fear which rules my life, always has. From first grade at Sacred Heart until the present.
I rarely listen to my still quiet voice, which offers relief from all that troubles me. I am fascinated by my inner dialogue and the public perception of me - they are often a universe apart.
Your words,...
"What we are running from; We can present a perfect façade to the outside world--sparkling clean; melodious; sweet smelling...it is nothing. Shadows and smoke."
...speak clearly of my efforts to be other than what my still, quiet voice tells me I need to be. Even knowing this of myself, I am reluctant to listen. It is far too easy to live a life molded in the image of what others believe I am or should be. So it is my challenge to listen enough for it to come clean.
Chris Morgan-Janes (Once upon a time classmate.)
Namaste, Chris. (I remember!)
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