By this coming Friday, we will reach the end of this year's days of miracles and going to the center every evening has been such a delight. Vimla has toughened the program this time so I have to admit that I was somewhat lost during the first two sessions and had to call upon my patience to slowly, steadily, quietly let all these words of wisdom and practices find their way inside my system and allow me settle within myself, feel more comfortable and at peace.
Yesterday we did a meditation on lovingkindness whereby we had to generate strong compassion towards 03 categories of persons:
- the people we love
- those we are indifferent to
- those with whom we do not get along
It is my 4th time encounter with this type of meditation. It has helped me assess my progress on the path as the first time I tried it, I felt extremely uncomfortable generating compassion towards people I did not like, but I believe I must surely have evolved as I can truly generate compassion towards the few toxic persons still around. Impermanence which is one of the essential doctrines of Buddhism has also been tackled at large and will be dealt with more profoundly in the weeks to come. Driving back home, the subject already started tickling my brain cells when it suddenly dawned upon me that I was not the same person that I was when I rose from my bed in the morning. Impermanence is there in our face at every step of the way. Change comes constantly at every second and death can be imminent. It should not be seen as a friend or an enemy but simply as an occurrence. Isn't it what life is all about actually, a series of occurrences? The friends we had yesterday are not the same as those we have today, the job that we had yesterday is not the same than the one today, feelings and perceptions that we had yesterday are not the same anymore, they evolve. Many events occur and they change us but and at the end of the day they are only the reality, that we, through our beclouded minds, perceive. They are not the true reality that really exists around us. When doing the four kayas it was mentioned that through the emanation of form and mind, we can reach this level of perception where everything becomes pure, clear and knowing. Our conditioning has polluted us so much that it is only through analysis, introspection and meditation that we will be able to declutter our mind.
To help in this process there is this beautiful prayer that has been given to us. Hereunder are a few lines of this prayer which speak to the very core of who I am:
Grant me blessing that wholesome thoughts arise from within
Grant your blessing that desire may lessen and contentment increase
Grant your blessing that I remember the certainty of time and death
Grant your blessing that I practice impartial pure perception
Grant your blessing that I develop devotion and respect
Grant your blessing that the duality of hope and fear be extinguished
Grant your blessing that I see non-dual wakefulness
In the pervasive space of evenness,
Even the world "suffering" does not exist.
So who ought to be striving for Happiness?
In the kingdom of Samantabadra, Happiness and Suffering are of one taste
Without grasping, they liberate of themselves
May I attain Samantabadra's kingdom in this very life
This, which to me, resembles a contemplation perspiring serenity and equanimity, fills me with humility and peacefulness and gives me a broader perspective of what our existence is really about.
