Train Your Mind Change Your Brain

Here is the link to the Mind and Life Institute. The institute sponsors meetings each year with The Dalai Lama and the worlds top scientists. In the following post, I mention the book that was written about the 2004 meeting, Train Your Mind Change Your Brain.

http://www.mindandlife.org/

The Monks Are Coming- Part Two

Yes, It's true I have been very busy with school ( it's getting easier, grading the second paper went much faster than the first), and putting the tour stop together for "My Monks". I like to call them that, my Monks, but really they are the Monks of Gaden Shartse Norling College Buddhist Monastic University.

I met them a little over 10 years ago when I saw an ad in a paper, it said - Wanted- office space for Buddhist healings. Host 8 Monks for one week in October.

Well, I had a large office with multiple treatment rooms, so how could I resist? I answered the ad, was interviewed by the local tour stop director, and got the gig. A few weeks later there were Monks and people and bells ringing and feathers floating and incense burning and a whole bunch a goings on in the office, and I was a little intimidated, but totally fascinated by those Monks!

On that tour there were several very elderly Monks who had tales of Tibet before China. There were several young Monks who were enjoying the freedom and abundance of American culture for the first time- they had a lot of questions- and there were all the wonderful people I met who were assisting the Monks in their journey of fund raising for the Monastery that houses not only the Monks, but many children who escape from China/Tibet and have no one in India but the Monks.

The first time I met "my Monks", I really knew nothing about Buddhism, but hey, I'm the curious sort, so I thought it would be a great learning experiance, and it was. Since that first meeting I have learned a lot more about the belief system that is the heart of Tibet. I am not a Buddhist, but I have to say they sure do have some really great ideas about how to look at life, and live life.

Now that I know more about Buddhism, I appreciate the Monks journey even more. They always remind me that nothing lasts forever. Nothing. Change is inevitable. If you know this, and accept it, then you can be much more at ease with all the changes that swirl around you in real life. By not clinging to things, you are less upset when things change, which they always do.

They also remind me that we create a lot of our own suffering or sadness in the world by our attitudes or mental states. Often when we are upset, we could choose to look at the upsetting situation differently, and if we did that, we would not be so upset. It's really entirely up to us how we view things and sometimes our view is the problem.

In Buddhism, every life is important, even the lowly bug. They teach compassion for all beings, no matter how small. If you can look at another- even in times of conflict- and see them as a being just struggling to find their way in this world, trying to do their best ( which in your opinion may be pretty bad) , then maybe you can find a gem of forgiveness or understanding in your heart and give it to them. If you can do this, it makes you a better person and the world a more peaceful place.

Tibetan Buddhism is very different from Zen Buddhism or other types of Buddhism, ( no, it's not all the same although the underlying principles are) , Tibetan Buddhism has many aspects of the original religion of Tibet which was called Bon. In Bon, there were many spirits or Gods, and magic was common. Tibetan Buddhism has a number of deities and they can be brought into your presence by complicated rituals. This reminds me that there really is still magic in the world.

So, the tour is off to a good start, I've booked them for performances almost every evening they are here, and healings most of the days, and time to rest as well, because last time they visited we had them so fully booked they were tired by the end of their stay. This time, I think they may need time to meditate and I know me and my friends, we need time to just sit with the Monks, get our questions answered and baske in that healing Monk energy.

Crispy, Golden, Waffle, Waffle.

I picked up this magazine called Tricycle. It bills itself as an independent voice of Buddhism, and contains articles from many different Buddhist views. Yes, they got all kinda’ different Buddhists out there, Japanese, Indian, Tibetan, Chinese, Korean, and western, and a few more I’m sure I’ve forgotten to mention or am unaware of, they all got a similar but different take on Buddhism. Then, within each of these different cultural ideas of Buddhism, there are different lineages and teachers and sects and whatnot. It’s a mess really, but what philosophy isn’t?

Yes, I did say philosophy. Buddhism, I’m told, is not a religion, it’s a philosophy. Interesting, I think, considering the expert I heard saying that was the Dalai Lama who is the spiritual leader of one lineage of Tibetan Buddhism, and in his linage there are many, many gods and goddesses and all kinda’ religious looking ceremonies and rituals.

I think the philosophy is interesting and in a nut shell I think it says this- slow down and pay attention to what the heck you are doing. Don’t hurt others. Respect all life, even a lowly bug. If you have an opportunity to be of service to others, do so. Don’t spend too much time wallowing in past memories or creating future fantasies because when you do, you are missing what is happening right now, and now is really all there is.

I can appreciate all that, so I occasionally pick up some Buddhist philosophy to read.

All that fine bit of meandering takes us right back to Tricycle, the magazine. Which illustrates that life is a circle. Which brings to mind Rob Schneider’s performance as the Asian Minister in the movie “I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry” Did you see it? He was too funny! Everything is a circle you know…

In Tricycle I was reading this guys account of meal time at the monastery he stays at for retreats. They don’t talk during meals. They are supposed to be contemplating the food. They are supposed to become aware of eating. They are to notice the taste and texture of the food, and to appreciate where it comes from. I guess the idea is if you are talking or reading or watching TV while you eat, you are not going to be as aware of what you are doing. Ultimately, they meditate on where the food comes from and give thanks to the whole process.

I thought that sounded pretty righteous so I tried it. I had a nice big waffle on a plate and it was covered with butter and real maple syrup and as I dug in I started thinking about the origin of this waffle.

I pictured the ground and the seed, the sun and the rain, the clouds and the wind. I pictured the nutrients in the soil and the growth of the plant which became the grain that was harvested. I pictured the harvest, the people working in the field and the people driving the trucks, the people milling the grain and bagging the flour, the people working at the plant where the flour was packaged with other ingredients to be organic waffle mix.

I pictured the people loading the packages onto trucks and shipping it to another place where it was repackaged and shipped again and the people who received it in the warehouse and moved it to pallets to be loaded onto trucks to go to stores. I pictured the people who drove the trucks and the people who unloaded the trucks and the receiving clerk in the store warehouse and the people in the store who placed the bag on the shelf.

Then I saw myself picking up the bag and going through check out and loading the car and unloading the car and mixing up the waffle mix with an egg and oil and oh yes, the egg and the oil came from someplace as well and I had to go back and imagine all that too.

By the time I was done with breakfast I was exhausted! I felt like I had traveled a million miles! How do these people in retreat do this visualization at every meal? Isn’t it kind of like watching a TV program while you eat? You are the director and the star and you give out the Oscar to the food for nourishing your body and give thanks to everyone in the cast and crew and all your family and support systems and all that. It’s like one long Academy Awards thank you speech!

I thought the idea here was to still our minds and be totally aware of where we really are right now, and what we are doing right now. Instead, my mind was off gallivanting across time and space tracking the waffle’s epic journey from grain seed to my mouth!

I decided in the future to just pay attention to the yummy waffle on my plate, and how it tastes. My mantra will be something like this: waffle, waffle I love waffles, crispy, golden, waffle, waffle.

Did You Know...

If I were in Tibet, I would go to jail for a long time just for posting this photo or having this bumper sticker.







God Bless America!