Thursday, July 12, 2018

Remain in the State of Nowness

"You are constantly busy. The truth of cyclic existence is very well manifested in your lives. To remedy this state of affairs one first needs to calm down the mind. Do not be completely absorbed by your surroundings. Develop some degree of stillness. Cultivate simple control of mind, tranquility. At least some openness of the mind needs to be developed. No matter who you are, everyone needs first to relate to basic meditation practices, meditation practices that are specific...ally designed to bring about the calmness of the minds of beings who are occupied in such constant, busy involvement. This is the first step in the practice of the Dharma, the Dharma that is so very important for oneself and for others.


If you could see and appreciate the truth of the Dharma, and in the light of that appreciation continue to practice, there is no doubt about your being of tremendous benefit to the people you encounter and to this country especially. There would be no doubt about your ability to save beings from countless problems and conflicts. So the practice of the Dharma must be taken very seriously and done very sincerely. It plays a crucial part in shaping of one’s life, and not this life alone but all lifetimes to come. If one is to have temporary as well as ultimate fulfillment of happiness, the incomparable and the only reliable connection is the practice of the Dharma. The notion of perception and perceiver has existed from beginningless time, and it is part of the pattern of clinging. From beginningless time our shortcoming has been to fall back into Samsara. In the past, in the future and in the present, the mind has been in many ways very playful. But where the true nature of the mind is concerned, neither the color nor the shape nor the location of the mind nor its consciousness can be pinpointed.
The nature of mind goes beyond all such substantialities. This being so, in the meditation practice it is important neither to invite the future nor recollect the past, but to remain in the state of nowness. The nowness of the mind is the practice which should be developed by you all."


~ Karmapa Rangjung Rigpé Dorje (1924-1981) — the Sixteenth Karmapa left Tibet in 1959 and rebuilt the Rumtek monastery in Sikkim in 1962, making it the seat of the Karma Kagyü in exile. Through his vision and action, the future of the Kagyü tradition was ensured, despite the tragic events of the time in Tibet, and he played a major role in establishing the Kagyü School in both the East and West. He passed away in Chicago in 1981. There are are currently two incarnations who hold the title of Seventeenth Karmapa.

See More

No comments:

Post a Comment