The Present Moment. Only this and nothing more, reincarnated again and again, ceaselessly. Past thought is present karma. Present thought is future karma. There is no past and no future. Only the present moment.We are not the body. We are not the mind. We are not the "I." Self is an illusion. There are only discrete moments. Linear time is an illusion. Self exists only in linear time, therefore linear self is not real. Only the present moment. The present moment is Buddha.
We are not Buddha. We exist in duality. Therefore, strive to increase positive thought (good karma) and decrease negative thought (bad karma). When bad karma is gone, we are Buddha. Until then, do not think, "I must not think." That is thinking. Think good thoughts to eliminate bad thoughts.
Be here now. This present moment. There is nothing else.
3 comments:
"Think good thoughts to eliminate bad thoughts." sounds simplistic to me, and not the whole picture. You've posted before on the importance of examining the roots of "bad thoughts" as part of the process of "eliminating" them. I believe that without this step, eliminating bad thoughts is spiritual bypass -- veering around "negative" aspects of our personality without examining our shadow and over time learning to integrate it.
"Bad" thoughts don't go away by avoiding them, and they certainly don't go away by willing ourselves to override them. If they do go away, it's through mindfulness -- through a process of awareness that says, "Yes, this too is part of me." Mindfulness can, over time, soften the negative thoughts and dispel them, but trying to overwrite them rarely works, and if it seems to, it's generally through a process of cutting off from the self.
Khenpo doesn't ignore mindfulness, he just begins at the beginning. Postive thoughts = positive karma. Negative thoughts = negative karma. We must get to know our minds through meditation and mindfulness, but to begin is simple: make an effort to think positive thoughts. Little positive thoughts = little positive karma ("you look nice today," said and meant). Big positive thought = big positive karma ("I pray for the end of suffering for all sentient beings," said with conviction). It really is that simple.
To end negative thought and negative karma, we must get to know our minds, weed out the sources of negative thought (bad parenting, emotional wounds, life's injustices, and other traumas that create stuck places that lead to negative thoughts). But this is hard work. Few take this path. For everyone else, baby steps.
-Bill
This makes perfect sense. However, I think it's important for people to not come away with the impression that the baby steps are the whole shebang. Too many people tackle, or even master, the baby steps and think they're experts -- and they start teaching or preaching the baby steps as The Answer. Baby steps are great, and appropriate some of the time, but they're just the beginning. When they're used as a way to avoid self-awareness (however unwittingly), their appropriate function gets lost.
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