Dominic Young
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Hey Betsy, such a beautiful essay on your experience with the Heart Sutra! I love that you are going to allow yourself to be playful more often when you chant the Heart Sutra! And it is mysterious how one can only ever chant it for the fist time!
Hey Sue Ellen, thank you for sharing your story and experience with chanting the Heart Sutra! So beautiful that I could feel your emotions as I read your essay!
Hey Anna, How are you being? Here is the link, I’m not sure it ill be a hyperlink, but you can copy and paste it. I hope it works for you.
file:///C:/Users/student/Downloads/Heart-Sutra-for-website.pdf
The Heart Sutra is a bunch of words beyond words to me. I chant them every morning before my personal meditation practice and a second time in sangha with a meditation group of which I am a part. It is more personal when I do it on my own, but seems more powerful when I chant it as part of a group/sangha. I wonder why that is?😉. Chanting it in the morning seems to make my day flow better in some way, I know that much. It is both delightful and frustrating to chant it daily and that is probably due to its inscrutable nature. I don’t really think too much about it, I just let it BE. I will try chanting it outside of my practice though, it’s a good suggestion. However, I don’t think I will chant the whole 260-word version! Probably the one-syllable version A.
What is the difference between Relative and Ultimate Bodhichitta? And you want our first thoughts. “First thought, best thought”- Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche.
Relative Bodhichitta is the cultivation of generosity towards ourselves and others. A softening of the wall we construct around ourselves to protect our egoic self from others. And in some way to protect our egoic self from our true Self. When we cultivate Relative Bodhichitta we make friends with ourselves and begin to really Love ourSelf. We see that we are so abundant that we can share ourselves with others. We can be generous and loving to others and ourSelf. We no longer are in a poverty way of Being, we are so full that we can give of ourselves freely and without expecting to get anything in return, mainly because we already have everything within ourSelf. e can radiate Love to the whole world just because that is our way of Being.
Ultimate Bodhichitta is much more challenging. It is actually seeing reality as it truly is; groundless, spaciousness, and complete openness. The understanding that there is no self and no other, no “I”, no “me’, no “other”. That is the illusion of duality. Ultimate Bodhichitta is non-dual awareness, even awareness itself. Ultimate generosity; no giver, no receiver, and no gift. Basically beyond concept and understanding. Inscrutable! I should have just written ” . ” To be honest I should have written nothing at all in this space because it’s “void”, “empty”, and “unborn”. Consciousness itself and even beyond that even.
Hey Lisa, your essay is very concise, and I understand your journey to grasp what seems to be ungraspable! Thank you🙏
Hey Betsy I loved reading your essay! And I chuckled when you said “Getting off the me first train”! And your description of the tenderness of when a woman gives birth made me recall my mum who not only gave birth to me but also saved my life. I miss her.
Hey Sue Ellen. I loved your essay and how you connected Right Livelihood, not only to the job you do in the world but to how you spend and invest the rewards you gain from your job! And how that may affect others and the world as a whole. Gave me a hole new perspective, thank you.
Hi Betsy, I enjoyed reading your essay. I can really feel your sincere wish to act with “Right Intention” and how much you care for your loved ones! I am glad to be exploring these topics with you.
The step on the Eight-Fold Path, within the Four Noble Truths, that I have chosen to contemplate is the “Right View”. All of the steps are essential on the ultimate path of enlightenment and all the steps are also so intertwined that it is difficult to separate them and discuss them by themselves. I will do my best to give my understanding of “Right View”. To me, this step is the most important because without seeing, understanding, and actually gaining Right View all of the other steps seem to go astray in some sense. If you don’t have the Right View how can you have the Right Intention, the Right Speech, Right Action, and so on through all the other four? To me, Right View is seeing clearly the Truth of Ultimate Reality. That what we think is reality is actually an illusion and this causes so much suffering. The illusion is the perception of duality and of the separateness of people an really everything. We are not separate from one another, we aren’t separate from nature, and we aren’t separate from the past or the future. We did not arrive here out of thin air, we are completely interconnected with everything and all of life. We believe in the duality and that causes suffering, then we try to not believe that life is suffering. That the illusion is always changing and we can’t hold on to anything in the illusion.
There are times when I completely get/understand this “Right View” and there are times that I lose the understanding of “Right View” in my life. There are times when it makes total sense and there are times when it makes no sense at all. There are times when I really feel the total interconnectedness and there are times when I feel completely separate (suffering).
An example of this, that I can share is, with my girlfriend (for context my girlfriend and I have been in a long-distance relationship for almost 3 years). There are plenty of times when we are talking and sharing our day that I and we feel completely connected and in sync like there is no separation between us, though there is 6000 km between us physically, but energetically there is no space between us. Then there are times when we happen to have an argument, and neither of us can see the point of view of the other, then there is the feeling of separateness and the distance seems more real to us. But then we resolve the issues and the feeling of interconnectedness comes back. This is the nature of impermanence. I want it to be the connected way, but it comes and goes. I guess one has to ride the waves of suffering and joy up and down until one can transcend. I haven’t yet at all.
I also feel Right View when I am outside on a clear night and look at the stars. I lose track of time or lose time altogether and feel the interconnectedness of myself with everything. I sense Right View when I take action in the world and consider the effects of the actions I am taking. I think of how what I am doing will affect others, especially people close to me. Then there are times when my actions are based wholly on self-interest and later on I can notice the lack of Right View in my actions.
I try to act with Right View in my mind at all times, but I certainly am not successful plenty of times. That is the Path though. Suffering is true, we cause a lot of our suffering by grasping to the hope that this is not true and the illusion of duality that we grasp at that as well. Having the Right View is the first and most important step in letting go of the tight grip we have on the illusion.
The concern that comes to mind that I have been “dealing” with recently and for this whole year so far is the challenges in starting my coaching business. It has been slow going and difficult at times, actually at most of the time. When I sit down and think about it, it feels frustrating, overwhelming, and annoyingly slow. I have had a vision of how it would work out and where I thought I’d be in my business journey by now, and it isn’t like that right now, which is disappointing and makes me feel like I am behind. This makes me lose a little confidence, and I get into negative thoughts. It is a real challenge for me.
As I look at it after contemplating the Four Reminders in relation to my present situation, I can feel a real shift in my overall perspective. I appreciate Susan reintroducing this particular foundational teaching to us in this class. When I think of the first of the Four Reminders: This Precious Human Life, I feel much lighter. I can see through my frustration, not that I don’t get frustrated and actually feel it, but when I remind myself that I am really lucky to have this beautiful life. I am truly lucky to have my life right now and that I can even have the opportunity to even start an online coaching business. If I were born a generation ago, this would not be possible at all. Or if I was in complete survival mode, then I would not have the capacity to have a business. If I didn’t have this human life at all, I would not have encountered the Dharma and been inspired to be of benefit to others. This reminder actually shifts my feelings from frustration to joy that I get to have this opportunity.
The second of the Four Reminders: Impermanence, or we are all going to die, also brings a shift in my perspective. This reminder helps me to have some sense of urgency, in that I am and will have my coaching business, and I will do what it takes to make it happen, not only for me, but for my girlfriend and future wife, and for those people who could use my help. I am 54 years old and know that time is ticking, so I am doing this now no matter what. I am not waiting any longer to do my best to have a successful business. This is my only life to do this, at least in this body and iteration. Contemplating Impermanence also brings about a feeling of lightness, in that I know that everything changes constantly. This is the nature of being, things are not static and that is great because life would cease to exist if this was the case. This allows me to slow down when I am feeling frustrated, overwhelmed, and overthinking everything. I can see that this too will change and there will be times when things in my business are working better and with more flow in a positive direction. This shifts my mind from negativity to a more positive frame so I can be at my best and continue to move forward in my journey to help people an be of benefit to the world in some way.
The third of the Four Reminders: Karma is real or interdependent generation is one that also changes my perspective when I get frustrated and overwhelmed in my business journey. If I understand it correctly, it means what energy I put out into the world, that same energy will come back to me. I know that this is a simplified version of the idea of Karma, but this is how it helps me to change my perspective when I seem to get into negative thinking. When I slow down and really contemplate this reminder, then I can see how staying in frustration and overwhelm will just bring more of that same energy to me over and over, not that I won’t and don’t feel this when it comes up, but when I think of this reminder, I can remind myself to stop and shift my thoughts to a more positive ones. I feel the negative feelings, slow down and then let go of them as best I can, and then try to focus on what positive things I am doing and are in my business right now. This makes me feel lighter and not so heavy. The more I think of the positive things, the more I notice the good things in my business and what I am doing. This more positive energy helps me to continue to move forward and in some “magical” way brings some more positive things my way.
Finally, the fourth of the Four Reminders: Samsara or life is suffering/unsatisfactory. Contemplating this one is more difficult for me on its own, but easier when I mix it with the other three reminders. That tends to pacify it a little for me. Though, on its own, it is just true and a fact of life, so why bother to fight against it or ignore it? That will just bring about the suffering of suffering and who wants to compound things anyway? It doesn’t do any good at all. Also, knowing this to be true and being reminded of this makes me realize that we are all going through a similar journey in life. This reminder helps me to have much more compassion for my clients and potential clients as I can appreciate their struggles better because I too have had struggles. This allows me to have a closer connection with the people I engage with in my business because we are all imperfectly perfect as we are and we are all just doing the best we can right here right now. It helps me let go of heavy expectations in my business, appreciate my business, and move forward from frustration in an imperfect way.
I haven’t really contemplated the Four Reminders before, and I am glad Susan has reminded us of these reminders😂. I appreciate her for doing so!
A great short teaching video about the Four Reminders by Ringu Tulku Rinpoche really helped me in understanding the reminders much better. I will put a link here if anyone wants to watch, its only about 10 minutes long.
Thank you for sharing your story, Tracy and for being so vulnerable. I can appreciate what you are struggling with, the “overindulging” in food, I too have had this struggle, though it has subsided to some extent, I still feel the struggle on some days. My struggle too began or restarted with the death of my mum some years ago. Just know you are not alone in your struggle. You will find a way to heal, I am sure. I am glad to be in this class with you.🙏
Thank you, Sue Ellen, for sharing your story of the concerns that you have over your husband’s health issues and for being so vulnerable. I appreciate you sharing the quote from Judy Leif’s book: “Cultivating an awareness of death is at the same time cultivating an awareness of life”, so powerful and true. You have inspired me to read this book. I am happy to be in this class with you and be on this journey in this precious human life with you in some small way.
