Amitabha Am itabha Path P ath Inspiration on the Vajrayana Path (if words too small, set browser to magnify to 125%)
Windhorse (Extract from Ruling Your World by Sakyong Mip ham Rinp Rinp oche) oche) When we have windhorse, we are able to accomplish what we want without many obstacles. FOR M ANY YEARS, YEARS, I had the p rivileg rivilegee of study st udy ing in India with His H is Holiness Dilgo Dilgo Khy entse Rinp oche, who was like my grandfather. Khyentse Rinpoche was a great Tibetan meditation master, a teacher of teachers and kings—among them, His Holiness the Dalai Lama and the king of Bhutan. He was an incredibly soft-spoken person who radiated power in a gentle way. Each day he would sit on a couch or a bed with his students st udents gathered around, He was old and big and fat, and he liked liked to t o wrap his favorite blankets blankets around his waist. His presence was warm and genuine. His stuff always looked better than everybody else’s. His prayer beads, his old old Tibetan T ibetan wooden cup—even his blanket— blanket— shone with w ith goodness. goodness. In his p resence, resence, the value of the most ordinary item increased—not simply because he owned it but because it attracted others. His energy infected infected his environment. environment. In his presence p resence there was a sense of nat ural wealth wealth and success t hat had not hing to do with money money . That is the t he power p ower of lungta, windhorse. Lung is “wind” “ wind” and ta means “ horse.” You see the imag image of windhorse printed on the prayer flags that flutter in the breeze all over Tibet. It is the ability to bring about long life, life, good good health, success, and hap p iness. When we have windhorse, we are able to accomp accomp lish lish what w hat we we want without many obstacles, obs tacles, On its it s back, windhorse carries carries a wish-fulfi w ish-fulfill lling ing jewel. jewel. This T his jewel is is t he wisdom and compassion t hat it takes t o act not on behalf of ourselves ourselves but for all beings. beings. T his is where real real confidence confidence and competence come from, from, Once we p ossess this jewel, jewel, our life becomes becomes blessed. Whatever Whatever we want w ant happens without difficulty. Just as if we were to jump on the back of a horse and ride across the open country , there th ere is is not hing in our way. way . With windhorse, we are like like warriors racing racing over the vast p lains lains of Tibet, our victory banners fluttering in the wind. I meet many people in my travels, and I can tell just by how they look or speak that fear and stress are reducing reducing their life life-force -force energ energy y . They T hey are hamp hamp ered by drip—a T ibetan word t hat describes contamination contamination of ourselves and the environment—the depletion that comes from living on the “me” plan. Drip is the opposite of windhorse, Windhorse t hrives on discernment discernment and intellig intelligence. ence. Drip D rip thrives on lack lack of it. Windhorse is t he element that emerges when we engage in virtue. Drip is the element that exudes when we engage in aggression and fixation. fixation. We think we have to p ush t o get get t o where we want to go. Windhorse, comes comes from paying p aying attention att ention to t o how we conduct our lives. lives. brip comes comes from feeling feeling that it doesn’t make a differe difference. nce. Windhorse Windhorse attracts att racts drala—the blessing blessing energ energy y that arises arises when w hen we overcome our own agg aggression. Drip attracts att racts obstacles. obs tacles. Windhorse is clean fuel, Drip is a layer of goo, like soot from a coal fire. It feels dark and heavy, like having tar in our lungs from smoking. smoking. Windhorse upli up lifts fts us. Drip D rip thickens our mind. By cultivating cultivating negativity negativity , we are neglec neglecting ting our pot ential to discover basic goodness, and t he poll p ollutant utant in our sy stem st em gains gains the st rength rength to overpow er our wisdom w isdom and compassion. There is no drala. drala. Life becomes becomes dark and difficult. difficult.
I remember asking my father about the first time that he ever saw a car. He was a teenager living in eastern Tibet, quite a remote remote area. He said that he h e could could smell the car for days before he saw it. He didn’t know what w hat the smell was, It just got strong st ronger er and stronger, stronger, and finally finally the car arrived. arrived. He said that for days after it left, he could still smell smell it. T hat’s what drip d rip is like. Drip “drip s” on us. us . We exp exp erience erience it it as a film that covers everyt hing. hing. This T his film is is a reflection reflection of negative negative p sy chologica chologicall leftovers leftovers in our environment, environment, the exhaust exhaust and p ollution ollution of the t he “me” plan. When our mind mind is habitually habitually agitated agitated and discursive, drip drip becomes becomes a veil of normality normality . As if our eyes are not fully fully op en, we exp exp ect thing t hingss t o be a little dark and dirty all the t ime. ime. In being fooled by the vei v eil, l, we become imprecise. imprecise. We believe believe that it doesn’t matter what we say, say , think, do, or eat, s o we ignore ignore our mental mental and phy p hy sical sical environment. Acting on self-interest seems natural, and we engage in activities that reduce our life-force energy. V/e eat food that weakens our system. We speak words that diminish our integrity. We constantly seek entertainment. entertainment. We wear clothes clothes that make us feel lazy lazy . Living Living our life life in in a nonchalant nonchalant way , we miss so so many opportunities. Things just don’t work out; our energy is perennially low, We forget about wisdom and compassion. We forget that every moment of our life is important. If we’re not exerting ourselves toward virtue, then most likely likely we’l w e’lll be swayed sway ed into non-virtue, and “ What about me?” will will just become stronger. stronger. Drip takes on its it s own life life as obstacl obst acles, es, Accomplishing what we want becomes becomes more difficul difficult. t. We miss miss the t he bus; we get get a p arking ticket; we become become ill. ill. The most s erious erious obst acle acle is is the t he idea idea of “me;’ which keep keep s us from seeing our own basic goodness. Out of that doubt comes ignorance, and out of ignorance come negative emotions, which p roduce more harmful harmful acts, acts, which make the dark age age darker. Buddhists consider p hy sical sical illnesses illnesses to be t he results of p revious revious negative negative actions; from that p oint of view, t he disease disease of ”me” ”me” is the root of all disease. disease. It’s the one t hat keeps keep s samsar s amsaraa going going… … Posted by bodhiac bodhiactivity tivity on 10101010 at at 1:02 1:02 p m Filed under: Uncategorized | Both comments comments and p ings ings are currently currently closed. Previous Previous Entry : Mother Earth Next Next Entry Ent ry:: Discovering Magic Like
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