Judy Lief

Buddhism – Shambhala – Profound Treasury – Making Friends with Death

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Blog 48: Train without bias in all areas.

February 17, 2015 By Judy Lief

48. Train without bias in all areas.

It is crucial always to do this pervasively and wholeheartedly.

The previous slogan was about including all aspects of yourself in your lojong practice: your body, your speech, and your mind. This slogan expands upon that to include all aspects of your experience altogether.

Lojong practice has two components: meditation practice, which includes formless practice and tonglen, and postmeditation, which means working with the lojong slogans in everyday life. Meditation is done alone, and slogan practice takes place in our interactions with others.

This slogan is based on seeing every aspect of your life as a practice opportunity. The idea is that instead of dividing your life, considering some parts practice and the rest time off, you should view everything you do with the eyes of lojong.

If you view lojong as only something that happens on the meditation cushion, you are missing the point completely. Formal practice is great, it is important, but it is only a small portion of your life: the rest is postmeditation. In postmeditation, you are working with what happens after you get up from the cushion and you have to deal with the nitty-gritty of your life and with other people. That is where your practice is put to the test.

If you are biased and have fixed views about what it takes to be able to practice lojong, it is easy to come up with all sorts of excuses as to why it is so difficult to practice. You can complain about all the obstacles you face and how your circumstances are never quite right.

Being without bias means that there are no excuses. You do not declare any areas off limits, but you relate to your life as a single whole, a back and forth rhythm of meditation and postmeditation. When you are without bias, instead of waiting for the right occasion, you apply lojong on the spot, not matter what is going on at the time. In that way your lojong practice becomes more than a hobby or accessory—it is a way of life.

Today’s practice

The best way to develop a more wholehearted lojong practice is by 1) spending time practicing mindfulness and tonglen, and 2) memorizing some or all of the slogans. For today’s practice, focus on one or two slogans that particularly strikes you. Touch on those slogans from time to time, and notice when they come up on their own.

Upcoming Events: Profound Treasury Retreat

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8th Annual PROFOUND TREASURY RETREAT at Saco, Maine 

June 12-24 at Ferry Beach Conference Center, Saco, Maine

 

Living Dharma: The Joy and Challenge of Joining Practice and Action

 

 

“Mindfulness practice is not just about what is happening to you individually and personally—it is about how much you are going to transmit your sanity and your insanity to the rest of the world.”—Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche

 

“If you don’t live it, it won’t come out of your horn.”  Charlie Parker

 

Living Dharma

The Joy and Challenge of Joining Practice and Action

 

In these times of turmoil, it’s important to reflect on ways to bring our lifestyle and our actions into greater accord with the dharma.   If your life does not reflect your practice, what is the point of meditation and study?

 

The time spent in sitting meditation is much less than the time spent going about our everyday lives. Therefore, postmeditation practice is essential. The combination of meditation and postmeditation makes our practice complete—running through our entire life rather than something we turn on and off.

 

In this class, we will focus on the challenges of living a dharmic life, and how they are addressed in the three stages of the Tibetan Buddhist path.  We will work with the foundational or hinayana guidelines for living life with simplicity and contentment. We will study mahayana teachings on how to activate compassion and benefit others. Finally, we will explore vajrayana teachings on how to engage more freshly and spontaneously by cutting hesitation and fixed views.

 

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Topics include:

The three essentials: discipline, meditation, and wisdom

Refraining from harm: working with the five precepts

Being of benefit: practicing the paramitas

Overcoming hesitation: engaging with the four karmas

Obstacles, mistakes, and fresh starts

 

From Judy’s Blog

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