Judy Lief

Buddhism – Shambhala – Profound Treasury – Making Friends with Death

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Blog 21: Always Maintain Only a Joyful Mind

August 12, 2014 By Judy Lief

21. Always maintain only a joyful mind.
Joy doesn’t have that good a reputation in our culture. We tend to associate it with idiocy or with people who are spaced out or stupid, people who are blithely ignorant of the state of the world or simply too self-absorbed to bother. How can you be joyful when there are so many problems? What about the truth of suffering, the problem of greed and craving? What about warfare, oppression, prejudice, and on and on? Furthermore, joy seems boring. There is no drama in it. For excitement, we need conflict, anger, and intensity.

Clearly this slogan is not referring to an ignorance-is-bliss type of joy. And it does not imply that everything is okay. Buddhism is known for telling it like it is and for not being afraid to face hard truths—and the truth is that everything is not okay. Yet we are still advised to be joyful.

We have so many assumptions as to what it means to be mindful and what it means to be compassionate. We take things so seriously—we take ourselves so seriously! This slogan challenges that approach. It is a direct challenge to our usual earnest and heavy-handed approach to the path, to the world, and to ourselves. It is a challenge to the assumption that the way to fight heavy-handed problems is with heavy-handed solutions. And it is a challenge to our desire to make everything a big deal and of utmost importance and seriousness.

According to this slogan, we should not practice the dharma with gritted teeth, but with delight. We should appreciate our good fortune in having found a teaching that not only talks about uprooting suffering and its cause, but also shows us how to do so. We should have a little humor.

This does not just apply to when things are going well, and it does not mean that we should be disengaged. Instead, we could touch in to a sense of lightness and joy repeatedly, in whatever we do, no matter what is going on.

 Today’s practice

For today’s practice, I would simply like to pass on a practice I received from Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche which is simplicity itself, but oddly effective: No matter what you are feeling or what is going on, smile at least once a day.

Upcoming Events: Profound Treasury Retreat

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7th Annual PROFOUND TREASURY RETREAT  

June 14-23 at Ferry Beach Conference Center, Saco, Maine

 

Sharpening the Sword of Prajna: The Awakening of Insight

 

 

“Prajna is of absolute, utmost importance in Buddhism. As you are progressing on the path, even if you are not yet enlightened, there are always glimpses of prajna. Prajna discriminates between entities very clearly. It distinguishes between what is and what is not, but it does not promote or reject anything.”

 

 

The focus of this year’s retreat will be on vipashyana and the awakening of prajna or knowing. Prajna “best knowing” extends from simple intellectual understanding to direct intuitive insight.  On the path of dharma, the ability to think clearly, to develop curiosity, to question and engage with the teachings is essential.

 

Shamatha, or mindfulness, practice provides a foundation. With that grounding, vipashyana or insight practice, brings clarity and brightness. Vipashyana gives rise to prajna; in turn, prajna gives birth to the realization of egolessness and the open expanse of shunyata.

 

Vipashyana awareness extends the meditative experience into all the activities of daily life. As meditation in action, it cuts through dullness and disconnection and awakens a more sharp, fresh, and tender approach to life.

 

Topics include:

– The dawning of vipashyana from the ground of shamatha

– Engaging with the dharma

– The connection between shamatha, vipashyana, prajna, and egolesssness

– The crucial role of inquisitiveness

– Gentleness as the mark of learning

From Judy’s Blog

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Judy Lief • 802-598-5832 • judy@judylief.com