Beginning Anew
Pisces Moon, watercolour by Rami Schandall, 2020.
Tomorrow I will begin an Autumn session of Tuesday Sangha, which runs at 7:30 pm, ET each week. I am excited to resume and begin anew!
I was in retreat this weekend (online) with a duo of Tibetan lamas, Anam Thubten Rinpoche of Dharmata Foundation, and Chakung Jigme Wangdrak Rinpoche of Abhaya Fellowship. They were born in Tibet and are now based in California. These compassionate teachers bring a sense of kindness and playfulness to their teaching and practice.
Before diving into the retreat's more challenging topics, they reviewed a foundational buddhist belief: basic goodness, also called "original face," or "natural mind," and other names. This goodness shines like a golden mirror in every one of us, and it has been there all along. It is perfect.
The mirror can be veiled with the dust of confusion, of mistaken beliefs, and our very human dramas and our attachments to them. Remember: the dust on the mirror is not the mirror.
In practicing, we polish the mirror. We don't get rid of our dramas or attachments, but, as we see them more clearly, we loosen our grip on them, and they loosen their grip upon us. Seeing things as they are, our minds become more spacious, less tight; we have more ease, and more wise discernment.
Like the fish circling a reflection of the full Piscean moon, let's turn our attention to that bright, shining mirror; see, how clearly can we see?
