Sangha member Ben Mikolaj challenges us to look closely at our path: “The dharma has never been about pleasing people. It’s about waking up. And waking up can mean walking away.”
“When something disturbs me bodily, mentally, or emotionally, my first movement, a deep-rooted habit, is to look outward,” Adela Iglesias writes. “I too often forget that the main source of my suffering (and of my liberation) is within me, in my own mind.”
In the months following my serious fall and its traumatic aftermath, it was difficult for me to stay present. . . . Although I knew that thoughts of the past and future are futile, it was a challenge to let them go and be in the present moment, moment by moment.
Christmas, New Year, all samsaric things like this naturally come. However, to practice Dharma, making a deep connection with our own mind, requires a lot of effort. Rather than turning inward, Lama Rabten Tshering noted that we tend to choose samsara– suffering. Why?
It can be easy for me to fall into self-pity. I find myself clinging to a solid sense of self when I experience physical or emotional pain. But when I apply what I have learned in my longtime Buddhist practice, I can let go of my self-clinging and self-pity, and I can experience compassion for all suffering beings, including myself.
“A foundational principle and inherent experience in the practice of tai chi is stillness within motion; the two are inseparable. Although we are often caught up in or distracted by the busyness and confusion of movement, both physical and mental, there is always an element of stillness to connect with.”
