The Mystery Of Each Moment
From the moment we rise from our bed until the moment we put our head on a soft pillow, life is continuously greeting us without trying to comfort us. We go through internal waves of liking and disliking as a way to respond to what life presents us. It’s not like we can shout, “Hi, life, be nice to me.’’ It does what it does. Big events happen now and then.
Sojong Reminder from Anam Thubten for July 2019
Dear Dharma friends,
From the moment we rise from our bed until the moment we put our head on a soft pillow, life is continuously greeting us without trying to comfort us. We go through internal waves of liking and disliking as a way to respond to what life presents us. It’s not like we can shout, “Hi, life, be nice to me.’’ It does what it does. Big events happen now and then. Right now, some of my friends are having real challenges. One of them just had knee surgery and has been having severe pain. A few others are going through hard times that will shake one to the core, no matter how strong you are.
Most of the time, many of us might not be having any life-and-death difficulties, but the small challenges greet us all the time in everyday life. Without checking our proclivity, automatically, we react to them by liking and disliking. This often causes a subtle obscuration toward the living mystery of each moment, where reality itself is magical. This is why we have an internal resistance to stretch out our arms and say, “I’m alive,” with a heart drunk with bliss for no reason. The conditioned mind is like an invisible thief who steals our joy when we’re bound by the spell of unawareness, not knowing that there is always a choice to live differently, not necessarily from without, but from within.
The chains of the habituated mind can be broken with a simple yet powerful inquiry. When having a thought or an emotion that troubles us, take a moment to be simply aware of what is unfolding without any tint of judgment. Then see the state of mind and who is aware of it. It’s an awareness that is already freed, spacious, and has the capability to hold all our experiences on unswerving ground. Whenever such awareness is present, we can take a moment to be with it and become it as well. It will allow to feel that we’re in touch our Buddhanature, the big mind, the Dharmakaya mind. It will also amaze us by showing us how easily we can go away from duhkha (suffering) to sukha (joy).
During this upcoming Sojong, let me invite all my Dharma friends to reflect on how one has been living inside, in the interior life, and recognize our old patterns that influence our daily life, as if they are true. Hold the commitment to change our consciousness by practicing reflections such as this one. All our habits are bound to be broken since our true nature is already Buddha.
With palms joined, Anam Thubten