Fall is Here

As the weather chills, and more rains cloud the skies. As the temperature inside the house gets towards 60 degrees, and the night draws out its cloak earlier and earlier, a gentle melancholy arises in me. Time is passing, sometimes quietly, sometimes seemingly so slow, but nonetheless, swiftly, whether I feel it or not, swiftly to one end and one end alone. We are here, alive on earth, for such a short time, and then the mystery of mysteries happen, and in one moment we are here, and the next, we have left our bodies. To where? To what? Is there any recognizable self remaining.

Part of my meditative practice is making peace, finding peace, discovering peace in emptiness, in formlessness, in that which is beyond this transitory life on earth. When I settle into the ground of that awareness, it quiets me down, gives me a profound perspective of equanimity, of connection and compassion. Time is practically still in that state.

I've planted bulbs for the Spring. Will need to be creative so the squirrels don't dig them up, as they did the first year I moved into my house in Cary. So disappointing, the squirrels dug up all but about 3 of over a hundred bulbs I planted.

Connecting with the earth and its changing seasons, with the skies and their every changing variety, is very comforting, even if it brings a gentle melancholy for all that has already passed, and what will come to pass.

The Scents of Spring

The wisteria have come and gone. The honeysuckle and wild white roses scent the walkways like a dream. The hot pink wild climbing roses are out, hiding on the sides of the road, all but impossible to capture and transplant.

The mimosa trees are growing, no blooms yet, but soon enough the heat will bring out another fragrance, so sweet.

Part of the result of meditation is the coming into the presence of the senses. Seeing more clearly. Smelling more clearly. Tasting and feeling more vibrantly.

Most of us have so much to do we don't have time to notice when the different wild flowers come and go. May we find ways to keep our connection with the cycle of nature.

The Outer, the Inner and the Secret

When I was practicing Tibetan Buddhist traditions I frequently read about and heard about three levels of the teachings: the outer, the inner and the secret.

During empowerments, when the head of the Nyingma tradition was visiting, in high ceremony, we would be given the outer empowerment, the inner empowerment and the secret empowerment.

Sogyal Rinpoche notices in his audio tape on Tibetan Wisdom for Living and Dying the parallel between the Christian hold trinity of The Father, The Son and the Holy Ghost, and the three kayas in Tibetan Buddhism, Nirmanakaya, Dharmakaya and Sambogakaya.

That's all I have to say about that now.

Teachings Offer Solace

While the Tibetan Buddhist teachings direct from Tibetan Buddhist monks and teachers, while exotic, answer questions and address sufferings that all of us as humans know.

One of the most powerful teachings is this practice.

When you are suffering, suffering strongly almost unbearingly, establish the intention that your suffering help relieve the suffering of all those who are suffering in the same way. If you are heartbroken, imagine the prayer of asking that your suffering relieve the suffering of all those who are heartbroken around the world. 

Strangely, paradoxically, instead of it increasing your suffering, the connection with the common suffering of humanity, offers a relief. 

In very ordinary American homes, in the 21st century, learnings from long ago, preserved in sacred lineages, are shared, handed on, spreading hope.

Dharma Haven has a rich description of the Tibetan Buddhist prayer:
Om Mani Padme Hong

A Late Night Prayer

In a December 23, 2008 note in On Bluebirds' Wings, this came out about what I understood from some Buddhist teachings:

As I practice the teachings that so enlarged my heart to meet the sights my eyes had seen traveling so much as we did, the teachings of the Tibetan Buddhists, to reach out with my heart and compassion to every element in all that is, in the whole universe, known and unknown, and imagine in every aspect of every element, the heart of compassion, receiving my recognition and honoring, and sending back ten thousand thousands of blessings, then the twisting anguish of the suffering that is behind every corner, under the sunglasses, inside the windows, and too many wheres, that anguish dissolves into a rich, fully connected, acceptance and presence.

John Died to the Sound of Buddhists Chanting at his Bedside

Today is the day bloggers are asked to unite to blog about AIDS. In honor of this day, I wrote the story of meeting John, a man in the Washington DC area, who I met at a Tibetan Buddhist prayer park, who was living and dying with AIDS. You can read the story in my Essays on the Ordinary blog.