The Buddhist Home

In the Lamrim there are guidelines for how to be a good student of the Dharma. An oft quoted example is being like either an upside down, leaky or dirty pot… the teachings either don’t get in, get in but don’t stay in, or get in but get contaminated.

I suspect I’m mostly a leaky pot. My memory of the details of teachings is residual at best. Thank heavens we’re taught to study the teachings again and again. And thank heavens there are teachings available on the internet. I listened to 8 hours of teachings yesterday whilst at work. Surely not the ideal study situation, but choosing to listen to Dharma teachings is better than, say, listening to pop music. I’m really interested these days in learning about joyful effort. That’s one of the 6 Perfections or Far-Reaching Attitudes of a Bodhisattva. I feel like a drag my feet through a lot of what I need to do, and that’s simply the wrong attitude to have. If I’m dragging my feet, my motivation must be off, and that’s not good either.

There’s plenty coming up to do… Losar is just around the corner. Our Losar altar collection is growing slowly. I hope to have a new post with updates ready for Wednesday. I got in touch with the kind folks at YoWangdu Tibetan Culture via Facebook and asked for their take on getting ready for Losar. They’ve graciously risen to the occasion and have posted a couple great articles on how to prepare for Losar. I’d encourage you to head over and take a look.

If you find yourself in the LA area looking for a shop of Tibetan Buddhist goodies, you’d do well to skip Zambala. I don’t want to speak too negatively of what I hope is an honest endeavour, but I was disappointed by the store and its goods. We won’t be returning for a second visit, nor shopping online. We managed to spent about $45 on little more than a handful of postcards and stickers.

Following our trip to Alhambra last Wednesday, my husband and myself headed into Monterey Park, which for folks who don’t know, is a Chinese stronghold in the southland. We went to Hong Kong Market for some supplies, and upstairs to Min East for hot pot.  Hot Pot is a raw buffet… there’s a bubbling pot of broth on your table and you pick your soup ingredients off the buffet. You cook it all yourself! The pic at the left is the damage we did.  Plate after plate of lamb (Husband’s favourite), frozen tofu (my favourite), mushrooms, and cabbage. Sometimes we add rice noodles. My husband makes a sauce that totally makes everything delicious. I think it’s just spoonfuls of garlic, pb sauce (tahini, maybe?), green onion, sesame sauce and chili oil. It’s a vibrant, flavourful red concoction (you can see the dregs in the bowl there) that compliments everything that comes out of the pot.

When we eat hot pot, the sauce inevitably ends up on my blouse. We joke all the time that I need a bib. One of these days, I might just bring one!

The Losar altar project is coming along. My husband has ideas to make a wooden painted offering statue of sorts… he thinks my list of items is too long and complicated. Still, I search on for a likeness of a ram (I hollered at artist friend on Etsy about maybe doing a small commissioned work) and am trying to figure out when to plant the wheat seeds so the grass’ll be nice and full by Losar.

“When in company, check your speech; when alone, check your mind.” – Lord Atisha

Something I’ve learned about myself over the years is that I can tend to sound somewhat sharp when I’m trying to be helpful. Or maybe anytime, really. I know myself to largely lack a sweetness of demeanor that would more naturally convey my caring and concern. I’m working on this because I think part of my issue with my biting tone is that I also choose to use words that, while the motivation behind them is often one of wanting to be helpful, can come off sounding more harsh than I intend.  I value practicality, efficiency and common sense and I think my speech reflects this. I’m working on this because I believe it’s a flaw in my communication style and it’s off-putting to some. I don’t wish to make anyone feel like they need to be on guard or doubt my kind intentions.

Since I’m starting a new job next week I’ve been spending a lot of time this week reading about lying, divisive speech, insulting words, and idle gossip. I’m particularly concerned that I get off on the right foot in this new position, and with the folks with whom I’ll be working. The workplace is quite the Dharma practice playground. If there’s a negativity in which to fall, it can be found in the context of the workplace. I want to be very careful to not fall into any ‘us vs. them’ situations, or work place cliques, and to avoid idle talk at all costs. I think it takes some practice to have a conversation with new people without falling into idle talk or quickly finding a common dislike to criticize. It’s very easy to find something common about which to complain. I’m going to be very careful not to fall into this trap. I’m thankful to have this position and want to have as Dharmic an attitude towards the necessity of work as possible. Sravasti Abbey has a “service offering” prayer that I’ve put on the front of my work binder. My intention is to recite this prayer at the beginning of each shift, to set my motivation and remind myself of why I’m doing what I’m doing, and for whom:

“We are grateful for the opportunity to offer service to the Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha and to sentient beings. While working with others, differences in ideas and ways of doing things may arise. These are natural and are a source of creative exchange. Our minds don’t need to make them into conflicts. We will endeavor to listen deeply and communicate wisely as we work together for our common goal. By using our body and speech to support the values we deeply believe in—generosity, kindness, ethical discipline, love, and compassion—we will create great positive potential, which we dedicate for the enlightenment of all beings.”

How do you keep a Dharmic focus at work?

It’s Thekchen Sojong day! Rejoice!

According to FPMT’s astrological calendar, today was an auspicious day to take the Eight Mahayana Precepts (Thekchen Sojong in Tibetan) . I try to follow the calendar in as much as is sensible. Any opportunity to create merit is of course an ideal time to practice. So I was up early this morning to take the vows (the first time you take them, you do so with a Teacher. After that, a representation of the Buddha will do), had a large vegetarian meal at lunch and have been fasting since then. I have avoided what is to be avoided (except for when I got thoughtless at lunch and used sriracha… it contains garlic and garlic is a “black food” on vow days. I won’t soon forget that mistake!)

Founder of Gaden Shartse Thubten Dhargye Ling, Ven. Geshe Gyeltsen (of beloved memory) said the Thekchen Sojong practice was a “beneficial and powerful practice in which we can accumulate tremendous merit. Whether we take on the vows individually, at home, or collectively, Geshela explained that the undertaking of lay Mahayana vows in our current degenerate era is roughly equivalent to pledging monastic vows during the historical time of Buddha Shakyamuni.” I find this notion absolutely amazing.  I’ve contacted some of my Geshe friends to see if they concur with the approximation of the vows being “roughly equivalent” to pledging vows during Buddha Shakyamuni’s time (still waiting back on replies — Geshes are busy fellows!), but even if it is a figurative comparison, clearly the benefit of the vows is tremendous and I should take every opportunity to practice them. There’s no time for laziness! I’ve made a commitment to hold as many of the Precept days as possible this year. As an individual who loves and values the monastic principles of the Sangha, I welcome any opportunity to live within holy vows that are available to me as a lay person. Personally, I like to think of Thekchen Sojong days as my “nun” days.

It’s about 7:00 p.m. and I admit, I’m hungry. I’ve had corn flakes on the brain since about 3:00 p.m. I don’t think I realized how often I thought about food all day. Had it been a normal day, I would’ve been mindlessly snacking throughout the afternoon, at too large a supper and felt pretty lousy by bedtime. Instead I’m just a little tuckered and looking forward to a hearty and healthy breakfast in the morning.

Next Precept day is the 23rd (though the 22nd is a good “prayers and practices” day and might also be good for Precepts).

Do you keep the Eight Mahayana Precepts? How often? Do you find the experience benefits your Dharma practice?

“You can’t just randomly surf the internet (be)cause you’re curious about what other people are doing and what’s going on. Because it just consumes so much time. We could surf the internet ad infinitum, looking for this, looking for that. There has to be a reason why you’re on the internet, looking for what you’re looking for.” – Ven. Thubten Chodron

I’ve been thinking a lot about guarding my mind. It’s what we do as Dharma practitioners, isn’t it? I’m particularly interested these days in time wasted on the internet and watching tv. The quote above is from one of Sravasti Abbey‘s “Exploring Monastic Life” meetings from last summer. I enjoy watching the EML videos because I (really long to be ordained) believe that there are many virtuous things which monastics practice that are applicable to devout Upasakas and Upasikas, or lay people. Ven. Chodron points out in her presentation that naturally The Buddha didn’t say anything about electronic entertainments but the principles of mindful living as taught by Buddha are a natural fit when it comes to judging how we use our time on the interwebs and with what motivation.

My default internet settings are 1. If I’m home, the laptop is on, 2. Tabs open: Gmail, Google Reader, HootSuite, Facebook, WordPress, Blogger, My Fitness Pal, and usually some Dharma site. I plant myself in a chair with a beverage nearby, the tv on to some bland program. I click, click, click between all the tabs… if a 1 appears on my Facebook tab, I must click there immediately to discover who has said what, who has posted what, what new pictures are there to ogle . It’s grasping in the worst way. It’s grasping at effluvia! My actions are empty in a meaningless way. I’m waiting for returned messages for a Dharma question I posed to some Geshe and learned friends on Facebook and that anticipation is a form of grasping. The answer will be the answer whether I read it the second it comes into my message box or whether I get it first thing in the morning. It’s a better choice to approach the reply with a fresh mind to absorb and apply the answer I’m given.

Clearly I have too much time on my hands. Clearly I could be using that time more wisely. What to do?

First, I put a timer on my browser. I’m a die-hard Chrome fan and I found a little timer that I can set and it will tell me when my allotted time is up. I decided randomly on 30 minutes in the morning and 30 minutes in the evening for Twitter Facebook and updating My Fitness Pal. That’s really all the time I need to get my messages, check up on people I care about, and keep track of my health and nutrition. I’ll keep it at 30 minutes but adjust it as necessary with the motivation of not lingering.

Second, I’ve set Sundays aside as an a Day of Unplugging. Doing this might make me a little nutty at first but I’m convinced that it’s a positive step toward recollecting how unnecessary most of what I do on the internet is.

Third, I believe internetting should be done with an attitude of service (I’m obsessed with “attitude of service” at the moment) and I think I should be on the look-out for opportunities to support and encourage others in their goals and dreams while I’m online. Because of that, I think that the most unnecessary internetting should be reserved for work or service periods in my schedule (which I have thus far kept more or less poorly… more on that to come) to keep that motivation of doing for others at the fore of my internetting.

Am I over thinking this? Just while writing this I’ve become aware of my using clicking between tabs as a distraction from the topic of the teaching that I’m watching. I’m watching Ven. Ani Tenzin Kacho talking about Death and Caring for the Dying. It is bringing back memories of the summer when we watched my Grandmother die. I can hear people on the video who attended the teachings crying, talking about their own experiences… instead of sitting with the discomfort, I’d rather flit off to Facebook to see who might’ve left me a message, who thought about me. Me, me, me. If I make internetting about me, I think I’m doing it wrong.

I received a box in the post today that contained an order from the FPMT store. It included 21 triangular Om Mani Padme Hum stickers designed to go on electronic gizmos. Click here to read more about them. It could be my addiction to stickers that caused me to purchase them, or a sincere desire to have some protection against the unknown woes that are or could be caused by things like cell phones and tv remotes. At any rate, there’s one on my laptop right now, and one on my smartphone as well.

I’ve indicated previously that I’m not superstitious, though I am curious about what Tibetan Astrology says about each day, special practice days, etc. I’m not sure I believe that even the powerful Mani mantra protects against radiation or whatever it is that’s harmful about cell phones and the like, but I do believe that having the little stickers on these tools that I use so frequently for worldly activities can serve as reminders to stay on the straight and narrow and mind my motivation when using these tools.

My laptop should  be used for positive activities like connecting with other Dharma practitioners in my lineage (and other lineages so long as they aren’t a handful with which I’d like nothing to do), watching and reading Dharma teachings, performing service for others, and actively looking for meaningful work. Similarly, my cell phone isn’t for idle chatter and gossiping (I’m thankful my friends know that I’m not keen on talking on the phone much) but for practicing compassion (you’d be surprised how uplifting a random supportive text message can be), making meaningful connections with family and friends, and again, for finding meaningful work or opportunities for service.

I ordered the booklet “Service as a Path to Enlightenment” because these days, as I look for work, I try to do so with an attitude of work as service. Of course I’m looking for work that comes with a paycheck and health insurance, because I’m a householder, an Upasika, and bills need to be paid. But I’m also hopeful that since I’ve been taking a spirituality-based financial management course I’ll be able to be a better steward of  the money that comes through my hands, and use it wisely for the benefit of not only my family, but for Dharma offerings, sponsoring pujas and a yet-to-be-determined nun at Geden Choeling Nunnery, and opportunities to continue learning at Teachings and Retreats. There are several scheduled in 2012 at which I’m looking to see if it’s possible to attend. Funny how living in the moment, creating positive causes and conditions, are what makes it possible to attend things for which we’ve planned.