Awareness
I am very grateful to the Rangjung Yeshe Institute who has given me the opportunity to study the Buddha-Dharma and inspire me to put it into practice in daily life. My purpose of coming here to Nepal to study was to infuse my mind and life with the Buddha-Dharma as much as possible, to really try to open myself and let it help me with all my daily problems.
The very core of practicing Buddhism is to change one’s view of reality and one’s motivation. All sentient beings want happiness, but what kind of happiness are we able to aim for? Honestly speaking, I think wishes and aims for more than temporary happiness are very rare - so how would we ever attain it? To really put the Dharma into practice it is necessary to change the fuel that drives our every action, the view and motivation that makes us do what we do. As it is now, honestly, I think most of us are too self-centred and too dependent on outer objects for ensuring our happiness to really thoroughly practice the Dharma.
~Solvej from Denmark
The very core of practicing Buddhism is to change one’s view of reality and one’s motivation. All sentient beings want happiness, but what kind of happiness are we able to aim for? Honestly speaking, I think wishes and aims for more than temporary happiness are very rare - so how would we ever attain it? To really put the Dharma into practice it is necessary to change the fuel that drives our every action, the view and motivation that makes us do what we do. As it is now, honestly, I think most of us are too self-centred and too dependent on outer objects for ensuring our happiness to really thoroughly practice the Dharma.
Personally, I would like to share a bit of a very simple practice that I find very helpful, and which anyone can do at any time and occasion – awareness and mindfulness practice (Tib: dran shes). I think it is something we have heard about so many times that we might have become quite immune to it; but actually awareness constitutes the very first and basic step on the path to freedom. Honestly, I do not think that we really know why we are here in this world, what we are doing and why we keep on creating problems for ourselves. But with increasing awareness of our actions and the motivation behind them, we can slowly get to know ourselves better. Before we can change any habits, we first have to gain some insight into their nature.
The key to lasting happiness is to stop reacting to our experiences out of our usual habits, but instead just watch them calmly with awareness, get to know them. There is nothing that cannot be a support for awareness meditation. I find that when sailing on the troubled ocean of existence it is very comforting to have an inner anchor in a calm awareness and mindfulness. It is worth contemplating and trying! ;-)
The key to lasting happiness is to stop reacting to our experiences out of our usual habits, but instead just watch them calmly with awareness, get to know them. There is nothing that cannot be a support for awareness meditation. I find that when sailing on the troubled ocean of existence it is very comforting to have an inner anchor in a calm awareness and mindfulness. It is worth contemplating and trying! ;-)
~Solvej from Denmark
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