Living the Dharma

*Here are my notes from the first day of H.H. Karmapa's teachings to western students entitled Living the dharma. The summery is my own and not the words of His Holiness.

Morning Talk
-His Holiness began buy defining the practice of dharma as including formal practice (of course) but also more than that. Dharma practice is something that transforms our mind, like working skillfully w/ negative emotions. That kind of thing is not confined to formal practice alone. In his own life H.H. Karmapa said that as he gets older his schedule is more packed with responsibilities and he has less time to do formal practice. So he has made his main practice thinking of others as much as possible during the day. He emphasised thinking of people in a "lively" way wherein you see them with your eyes and feel like they are there. He said by really thinking of other people a lot during the day, that our minds naturally turn towards dharma and that transforming negative emotions is easier. He contrasted that by describing how selfishness and selfish thoughts keep our dharma practices stuck and we don't develop spiritually. So with little time to practice formally we can keep a dharmic lifestyle by continually considering others. He went on to explain that the development of compassion is the essential point, because compassion is what unlocks the dharma and makes it a real and valuable experience. In that way Bodhichitta is like a wish fullfilling gem, because when we experience bodhichitta our doubts are cleared away and we find real meaning in our lives. H.H. Karmapa then made the point that whether we are talking about dharma or our temporal lives, it is important to have a clear view and deep understanding of what we are doing and why we are doing it. If we have that depth of understanding then we will have less doubt and discursiveness and our practice will have more of a living quality. So real compassion which is like a wish fullfilling gem arises from integrated understanding and not just a conceptual construct. In order to develop that kind of deep understanding then studying the dharma and receiving instructions from qualified teachers is important. He finished by say that qualified teachers a hard to find, especially ones who you can truly take refuge in, so he suggested learning from teachers with good knowledge and then applying what you have learned from them. Taking instructions from the phenomenal world, such as watching the seasons change and contemplating impermanence.

Afternoon Talk
-The main theme of the afternoon was the importance of still maintaining a formal practice, but that it didn't need to be confined to a shrine room or something like that, but could happen throughout the day. He laid out an example of a possible daily schedule. His Holiness suggested that it is good start the day with meditation, sitting upright and letting your mind relax and be still for a little while. He said this would be a good time to do what ever formal practice you are doing. He also said that it is very good to finish your practice by making a strong intention for your day. When you arrive at work you should take a minute or two and just relax your mind. Let yourself fully arrive at work. He then suggested that you think that what you are doing is use full to sentient beings and that while you are doing it you will try to do your best job. When you finish the day and arrive home, it is very important to spend time with your family or living partner and make your household a loving and uplifted place. He said this is important because the love generated in the home will bleed out into the activities outside the home. Love and the development of compassion being synonymous with dharma practice. Then he said to take a load off. Give yourself some personal time to let your mind relax and to establish that space of relaxation and peacefulness as your inner home, or the place your return to again and again. He then went on to discuss the main obstacle to finding this restful mind as being desire and attachment. He said that other obstacles are more fleeting, but desire and attachment are basically there most of the time. In order to work with desire we need to investigate it fully and understand how it arises and what its qualities are. Desire has the quality of completely taking over ones mind so that we no longer see the object of desire as having any faults, but completely perfect and absolutely necessary to posses. He made a big deal out of pointing out that when desire takes over our mind like that then we are like slaves and have lost all our freedom of choice and ability to relax. So in order to transcend this time of wanting and attachment we have to come to the understanding that the object of desire does not possess any intrinsic "desirability" but that the desire is completely self generated. If we see that it is just our mind which is creating this desire then we can move towards letting go of the need for that particular thing. He finished by adding that going to the extreme of some kind of forced austerity is not helpful either. So it is not the desire that is the problem, only our enslavement to the desire.

*please forgive the grammar errors.