Spiritual Materialism

Posted on May 19th, 2009 by Tharlam in Three Turns Buddhism Forum

Audio recording of Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche teaching on Spiritual Materialism : Part One Part Two Discsussion on this teaching or Rinpoche's book 'Cutting Through Spiritual Materialism' is encouraged here.

Re: Integral Spirituality - More Than a Line of Development?

Posted on Apr 29th, 2009 by Balder in Integral Archipelago

Hi, David, I didn't start this thread to talk about Cohen -- and I'll change the topic soon, to get on track with what I wanted to discuss! -- but I have a quick question... More »

Re: Stupas (2) - Peace and Harmony to all Souls on Earth!

Posted on Mar 13th, 2009 by Taikunping in The GLOBAL PEACE POD.

What is a stupa? The Tibetan word is Chorten, which means "the basis of offering". It is a symbol of enlightened mind, (the awakened mind, universal divinity) and the path to its realisation. If you... More »

Re: Just a Few Questions....

Posted on Dec 9th, 2008 by ricosoma in God Pod or Life, the Universe and Everything

Geez Mike!  My initial postings would have to be pages long to address all your potential issues.  Maybe it's your way of expanding the discussion. So here is my response: Guilt in large is lamentation.... More »

Re: aum

Posted on Dec 6th, 2008 by arpita in God Pod or Life, the Universe and Everything

hello Nicole merit is generated through good acts and the recognition of intrinsic divine nature - but if there is any attachment to the notion of generating merit, or attachment to the personal accumulation of... More »

Re: The gifts of the masculine!

Posted on Aug 4th, 2008 by David in The Integral Pod

I think the "masculine"---good reminder, Liz; we might even try to discover some genderless terminology for this---offers directionality and strength in the face of adversity. As Liz said, that might come from a woman as... More »

Re: Ken Wilber

Posted on Mar 11th, 2008 by adastra in The Integral Pod

A Spirituality That Transforms - Ken Wilber (from http://wilber.shambhala.com/ ) H al Blacker, consulting editor of What is Enlightenment ?, has described the topic of this special issue of the magazine in the following way... More »

Re: please share :)

Posted on Mar 9th, 2008 by Jayne in God Pod or Life, the Universe and Everything

Hello everyone - just joined the pod last week I think? I'll try for the edited version of my spiritual journey. (p.s. after having just finished this post, it is not edited!  Grab a cup... More »

Pema Chodron

Posted on Jan 20th, 2008 by Lisaji in The Integral Pod

Home  >  Biography BIOGRAPHY Ane Pema Chodron was born Deirdre Blomfield-Brown in 1936, in New York City. She attended Miss Porter's School in Connecticut and graduated from the University of California at Berkeley (Go Bears!). She taught... More »

Do you need a teacher?

Posted on Jun 17th, 2007 by jimtzu in The Integral Pod

from an article in Spirituality and Health magazine.  (my scanner's in an alternate universe today, so pardon the layout) What do they give us? What do they take? Do they help- or harm? Some reasons... More »

Enthronement

Posted on Apr 22nd, 2009 by A

One Parents are very kind, But I am too young to appreciate it.  The highland mountains and valleys are beautiful, But having never seen the lowlands, I am stupid.  Two Having striven for mind's nourishment,... More »

Smiling at Fear

Posted on Apr 19th, 2009 by Canary Mary

This month's was the 10th annual Shambala Sun issue and I was guided to just the right article called Smile at Fear. Simply put, the author, Carolyn Gimian (CG) shows us how we can "discover... More »

Role of Emotion in Spiritual Transformation Part 4

Posted on Oct 2nd, 2008 by Michaelman

Love’s rough edges can become a powerful resource, for they connect us more fully with our heart- that larger source of intelligence that can guide us through all the uncertainties and complexities of relationship. Through... More »

Role of Emotion in Spiritual Transformation Part 2

Posted on Oct 2nd, 2008 by Michaelman

Warriorship is a continual journey. To be a warrior is to learn to be genuine in every moment of your life. Chogyam Trungpa, 1988 Shambhala Warrior Practice Meditation master, Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche (1939-1987) was one... More »

The Value of Polemics

Posted on Sep 8th, 2008 by David

Ken Wilber from The Eye of the Spirit (p. 276-279): "Robert McDermott, in his chapter 'The Need for Physical and Spiritual Dialogue: Reflections on Ken Wilber's Sex, Ecology, Spiritualitv,' raises the issue of whether polemical discourse... More »

To experience fearlessness, it is necessary to experience fear

Posted on May 16th, 2008 by Phil

A few years ago I began going to the Shambhala Medtiation Center of San Antonio .  Studying Shambhala Buddhism and living Shambhala Warriorship has had a tremendously positive effect on my life.  So much so... More »

PHOTO HOAX UPDATE: My Findings Reported & Supported in LA TIMES!

Posted on Apr 30th, 2008 by thinkpossible

Shortly after I had posted my findings about the article and photo supposedly showing Chinese soldiers dressing as Tibetan monks during the recent unrest in Tibet, I was contacted by Mark Magnier, the Beijing Bureau... More »

Voting With Our Hearts

Posted on Apr 5th, 2008 by Bruce

In his brief talk on "Nowness" prefacing the final edition of Zeitgeist, Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche says that perhaps our inability to face the power of the present moment is what accounts for our needs not... More »

The Path Home in Shambhala Sun 03/08

Posted on Feb 26th, 2008 by Bird

It's one of the paradoxes of spiritual practice: we need a path to travel where we already are.  SAKYONG MIPHAM RINPOCHE explains how to create the causes and conditions for realizing the enlightened nature we... More »

Fixing the Time Problem, Atlantis Rising, #37

Posted on Feb 18th, 2008 by Andy

excerpt from: Fixing the Time Problem ATLANTIS RISING • Number 37 BY CYNTHIA LOGAN~~~~~ For cultures around the world, time is measured not by the ticking seconds of a clock or watch, but by seasons,... More »

When I was going into one of my first meditation retreats, I asked my father, Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche, for some advice. He said, "How you act when you're alone affects the rest of your life." Even in solitude, the ruler engages in virtue.

we must continue to be open in the face of great opposition.  No one is encouraging us to be open and still we must peel away the layers of the heart.

If you look into the mirror, you see that [every part of you] belongs there and you belong there, as you are.  You begin to realize that you have a perfect right to be in this universe, to be this way, and you see that there is a basic hospitality that this world provides to you.  You have looked and you have seen, and you don't have to apologize for being born on this earth.

"Coming home to our True Nature"  Pt. 3
Spirituality is completely ordinary. Though we may speak of it as extraordinary, it is the most ordinary thing of all. Spirituality is simply a means of arousing one's spirit, of developing a kind of spiritedness. Through that we begin to have greater contact with reality.  If we open our eyes, if we open our minds, if we open our hearts, we will find that this world is a magical place. It is magical not because it tricks us or changes unexpectedly into something else, but because it can BE   so vividly and brilliantly.
                                                                                                        by  Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche

“Walking the spiritual path properly is a very subtle process; it is not something to jump into naively. There are numerous sidetracks which leades to a distorted, ego-centered version of spirituality; we can deceive ourselves into thinking we are developing spiritually when instead we are strengthening our egocentricity through spiritual techniques. This fundamental distortion may be referred to as spiritual materialism"

Whatever shakes you should without delay, right away, be incorporated into the path.

Meditation, then, is a state of mind in which the 'me' is absent. And therefore that very absence brings order.

It's one of the paradoxes of spiritual practice: we need a path to travel where we already are.  SAKYONG MIPHAM RINPOCHE explains how to create the causes and conditions for realizing the enlightened nature we already possess.

Each time I leave a meditation retreat, I'm struck by the level of speed and stress in our environment.  I'm not just talking about Westerners.  Ther first time I went to Tibet, life there was very simple, but when I returned three years later, cell phones were ringing and the distraction was visible, even while I was conducting ceremonies.  Something else I've noticed lately is  that we're bombarded with bad news.  But the people I admire have always focused on the good news:  that we have in our mind wisdom, compassion, and all the other elements of enlightenment.

While living in stressful times does not ultimately affect our enlightened qualities, it does demand that we become more engaged in awakening them.  To transform the environment, we must begin with our mind.  We can't expect everyone else to change first.  As my father, Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche, was fond of saying, "It's easier to put on a pair of shoes than to wrap the earth in leather."  The process of putting on a pair of shoes is the path of enlightenment.

On the ultimate level, enlightenment is already here, but on the relative level we need to engineer its causes and conditions.  The mind is a neutral situation, like a cotton sheet that we can dye any color we want, but unless we take hold of it, karmic tendencies--whatever habits we've ingrained in the past--will just take over.  The practice of the path is slowly orienting that white cloth and coloring it the way we want.  The path consists of three elements: view, meditation, and activity.

View is our orientation, and how we orient our life is intimately connected with our motivation.  Traditionally, the Buddhist teachings list three kinds of motivation: small, medium, and large. These levels of motivation describe how we evolve on the path of enlightenment.  When we wake up in the morning, where is our mind taking us?  Whatever it is, from motivation, everything else will arise.

If our motivation is small, we will use our day getting the "stuff" we think will make us happy--food, clothing, and friends.  If it's a little bigger, we might add some yoga to make us feel better.  We might even expand it further to think about the karmic consequences of our actions--but it's still all about "me".  With a medium-level motivation, we're no longer so fixated on our own happiness; the basis of our actions is loving-kindness and compassion.  We're maturing.  With the largest motivation, we put the happiness of others before our own.  This is the motivation of the Buddha.  If we get up in the morning and the first thought that comes to mind is, "There are so many sentient beings; even if I amd the last person on earth, I will stay here to help them," that is a very big view.  Motivation is just an attitude, and it's free.  So why not have a big motivation?

Why is view so important? View is how our mind is oriented, and the way our mind is oriented determines what we get.  Our realization is based on the size of our view.  The view of enlightenment is that we are taking charge of our own destiny.  Unless we take the mind where we want it to go, the environment will take the mind where it wants it to go.  

By setting our view every morning, we become very good at supporting ourselves in the second element of the path, meditation.  Meditation is essentially a dualistic process in which we place our mind on an object.  When we place our mind on something, the mind absorbs its qualities, because we're becoming familiar with it.  This isn't particularly a spiritual truth; it's our everyday reality.  For example, if the object is the anger you feel toward your spouse, you become more familiar with anger, soaking up its qualities like a sponge.  In the end, that meditation leads to action.  You yell at your spouse or stomp out of the room.

Meditation is a proactive approach to this reality of mind.  We practice choosing the object rather than being led by whatever thoughts and emotions randomly beckon.  We steep our mind in qualities that lead it forward.  We begin with the stabilization technique called sharmtha, "peaceful abiding, " in which we focus on the breath.  Through this practice our mind becomes settled and workable.  Why is this important?  We may have good intentions, but if we can't control our mind, we can never enact them.  For example, we want to be compassionate but we get discursive, distracted by our mental ups and downs.  Before we can cultivate compassion, we need to possess our mind.  That's what we do in stabilizing meditation, where we calm down and experience the space of mind just being there.  From that, our mind is much less speedy.

The mind resting peacefully has incredible implications.  If you're present for the moment, you're present for your life, and you can therefore observe what's going on.  If you can observe what's going on, you can make judgements, deciding where you want to go.  At this point--known as the present moment--you can change your karma.  You can reorient your whole path, because in terms of the future, you're in the driver's seat.  You are getting more enlightened.  You are waking up.

We actively reorient ourselves in contemplation, the second kind of meditation, known as vipashyana, "clear seeing."  Now we take a thought as the object of our meditation.  For example, we can focus on our motivation, stated very simply:  "I want to meditate," "I want to develop compassion," "I want to tread on the path of enlightenment," or "I want to become enlightened, no holds barred."  At other times we might contemplate a quality--generosity, exertion, discipline, or patience--that could support our motivation.

This is a practice of fabricating our enlightened qualities so that our mind naturally turns in their direction.  We know that we're innately compassionate, and we also know that we don't feel right now because there's a blockage.  So we contrive our buddhanature in order to reveal it.  We call this relative understanding.  That understanding may be brief, but we should not be discouraged .  By becoming familiar with the view, we are clarifying our future.

It's one thing to have the attitude of enlightenment and another thing to act in an enlightened way, which is conduct or activity, the third element of the path.  If we have proper understanding of our motivation and are getting used to our enlightened qualities, chances are we can deal with speed and stress more effectively.  First we can create space in our mind to see where we are.  Then we can reorient ourselves by remembering what we're doing.  That allows us to say, "Sure, I'm tired and in a hurry and my phone is ringing again.  Yet I can stay on the path by sticking with the ten percent of my mind that really wants to do this."  The more we develop the tools to move forward on the spot, the less influence the other ninety percent of our mind will have.  Our karmic tendency to drift into agitation and discursiveness will incrementally decrease.  View, meditation, and conduct give us a way to remember what we're doing and why we're doing it, and then enact our own enlightenment.  As we do that, we are stepping on the path.  We're making progress.

Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche is the spiritual leader of Shambhala, an internation network of Buddhist meditation and retreat centers.  He is the author of Turning the Mind into an Ally and Ruling Your World.

The simplicity of meditation means just experiencing the ape instinct of ego.

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