Reflections

'SAMAYA HO!' exclaimed the Guru. `The bond is formed.' 'SAMAYASTVAM!' I replied. `You are the bond!' 'SAMAYA HRI!' exclaimed the Guru. `The bond is all!' 'SAMAYA TISHTHA!' I replied. `The bond is strong!' 'RAMO HAM!' exclaimed the Guru. `Let the fire burn!' 'RAGAYAMI!' I concluded. `We are burning together!' ~ The Secret Life and Songs of the Lady Yeshe Tsogyel The transmission of teachings in Buddhism is different from intellectual learning. It cannot be learned from books. As Buddha said in his famous Flower Sermon “the subtle Dharma Gate does not rest on words or letters but is a special transmission outside of the scriptures”. This is why it is sometimes called mind-to-mind transmission. In most Buddhist sects, once you receive transmission, you become part of the unbroken thread that began with Shakyamuni. You become your teacher’s dharma heir and belong to his lineage. The 14th Dal...

Even if someone broadcasts to the whole universe slanderous and ugly rumors about you, In return, with an open and caring heart, praise his or her abilities — this is the practice of a bodhisattva. ~ 37 Practices of the Bodhisattva, verse 14 Our first reaction to pain is usually a defensive one, acting from within the closed system of a self-centered narrative. This separates you (the offender) and me (the offended) in a literal way, limiting my action as a self-protective “response” to something you have “done” to me. Whether I act out this response (e.g. by retaliating or by withdrawing from you) or “act it in” (e.g. by repressing my desire to defend myself in these or other ways), I am caught up in the turmoil of the world projected by experience. In this way, taking refuge in a morality or an institution, conforming to guidelines or precepts (such as 'the dharma') as a way to deal with someone else harming me, is no less reactive than adopting a punitive attitu...