On Sunday July 1, 2018, we will have our Summer Morning Talk and Potluck. We will begin at 10:00 a.m. with meditation followed by a dharma talk about the Six Paramitas and will close with meditation and a meal.

The six paramitas, in the Mahayana tradition, constitute the core practice of the Bodhisattva path. A Bodhisattva  is one who is dedicated to serving the highest welfare of all living beings with the awakened heart/mind of unconditional love and wisdom; one who is motivated by compassion and seeks enlightenment not only for him or herself but for everyone.

Paramita is a Sanskrit word meaning “crossing over to the other shore,” or “liberating action.”  It’s also translated as perfection, perfect realization, or reaching beyond limitation. Through the practice of the six paramitas, we cross over the sea of suffering (samsara) to the shore of understanding and awakening (Nirvana).  The Six Paramitas are a way to integrate everything in our lives as part of our path of awakening. They’re a practice of focus, of discipline and calm; a way of centering ourselves so we can recognize and confront delusion. They give us a way that we can live in the world with equanimity.

The Dalai Lama says in his book The Compassionate Life, which is about Shantideva’s The Guide to the Bodhisattva Way of Life, “…the delusions within our minds, such as hatred, anger, attachment, and jealousy, are our true enemies.  As Shantideva states…these enemies do not have physical bodies with legs and arms, nor do they hold weapons in their hands; instead, they reside in our minds and afflict us from within.  They control us from within and bind us to them as their slaves.  Normally, however, we do not realize these delusions as our enemies, and so we never confront or challenge them.  Since we do not challenge them, they reside unthreatened within our mind and continue to inflict harm on us at will.”

Last weekend we celebrated “Buddha Day,” called Vesak around the world, the time of Buddha’s birth, enlightenment and death. This is a community-wide event with speakers and meditation, food and fellowship with many from the 18 Colorado Springs sanghas in attendance. It was held in the community room at Pikes Peak Hospice and Palliative Care. It was a beautiful day!

I gave a talk about the Dedication of Merit from the discourse, “The Way to a Fortunate Birth.” In this talk, the Buddha identified three bases of merit. He said “If one would train oneself for merit which lasts long and yields happiness, he should cultivate giving, right conduct, and meditation.  Having cultivated these things which are three sources of happiness, the wise man arises in a happy world that is free from harm.”

First, we cultivate cultivate dāna pāramitā or generosity. This isn’t just giving to the poor, although that’s part of it. Dana is the essence of unconditional love…giving without attachment… with an open heart and open mind… with an attitude of altruism and wisdom. Giving money, or other tangible assets, what we typically think of as “generosity.” Pema Chodron says that, “dana is also fearlessness: What we think of as “generosity of spirit,” giving of oneself. The opposite of fearlessness being “poverty”.

Then, Buddha said, the second basis of merit is the sīla pāramitā or virtue.  Our overall ethical behavior. There are several levels of sila, but laypeople like you and I generally undertake to live by the five precepts that are part of the Refuge Ceremony.  We undertake the precept to refrain from destroying living beings; from taking that which is not offered. We refrain from sexual misconduct; from incorrect speech; and the use of intoxicants.

The third aspect of dedication of merit is meditation, specifically metta or loving-kindness. Metta has two root meanings. One is the word for “gentle,” like a gentle rain that falls on the earth.  The other is “friendship.” The Buddha described a good friend as someone who is steadfast in our times of happiness and in our times of adversity and sorrow.  He said that “a friend will not forsake us when we are in trouble nor rejoice in our misfortune.”

Metta practice starts with befriending ourselves; to learn how to be our own friend, because unless we have a measure of this unconditional love and acceptance for ourselves, it’s difficult to extend it to others. Sharon Salzberg said, “You can search throughout the entire universe for someone who is more deserving of your love and affection than you are yourself, and that person is not to be found anywhere. You yourself, as much as anybody in the entire universe deserve your love and affection.”

What an amazing thing to be told! We could never find anyone who is more deserving of our love and affection than we are ourselves.  How few of us embrace ourselves in this way, or have ever been told that we could – here in the western world this teaching is almost heresy! With metta practice, we uncover the possibility of truly loving and respecting ourselves. Gradually, as we practice loving-kindness meditation, it becomes an actual experience; the feeling of loving-kindness is born within our hearts; within our beings. So we begin with ourselves and then expand our lovingkindness to include our loved ones, the neutral people, our benefactors, the difficult ones, and all beings everywhere, seen and unseen.

Fire Puja offered by David Beers from Pikes Peak Vajra Vidya.

Chanting during fire puja

Talk offered by Paulette Morris of Open Heart Sangha.

Talk by Paulette Morris.

Behind a temple was a vine with many squashes growing on it. One day a fight broke out among them, and the squashes split up into angry groups and made a big racket shouting at one another. Hearing the uproar, the head priest went outside, saw the quarreling, and in his booming voice he scolded them: “Hey! Squashes!  Why are you fighting? Now – everybody do zazen [sit in meditation].”

The master taught them how to sit, showing them how to fold their legs and sit up straight. While the squashes were sitting zazen their anger subsided and they settled down.

Now the teacher quietly said, “Everyone put your hand on top of your head.” When the squashes felt the top of their heads, they found something attached there, which turned out to be a vine that connected them all together. “This is really strange. Here we’ve been arguing when actually we’re all tied together and living just one life. What a mistake!” After that, the squashes all got along with each other quite well.

The Dalai Lama was giving a talk one day while sitting under the Bodhi tree, and the pilgrims had come from miles and miles on foot from the high Himalayas to be with the him in Bodhgaya, and he said to them, “Okay, you’re here, and you think you’re very fortunate because you have the blessings of being under this Bodhi tree where the Buddha was enlightened, with all these famous lamas, and the Dalai Lama himself, and you have the teachings, the sacred meditations, and mantras, and all these things. It won’t do you any good. The only thing that makes it work is if you take the trouble to practice it. All the rest of it is very nice, but you might as well watch Dallas or something like that. It’s not so different. Maybe you would learn more from Dallas, I don’t know. At least it wouldn’t be pretentiously spiritual.” So what is needed is “effort.”

Effort is central in our spiritual practice. It’s the effort of learning how to cultivate or generate that which is skillful – which means awareness, loving-kindness, or caring for the world around you, or living more in the present, the effort to abandon the habits, the fears of things that we get caught in that create suffering and that keeps us in the muck. This is wonderful because it’s a teaching that we can apply to our daily life; it’s not just a retreat teaching; it’s small habits and all the little pieces of life. Our life is made up of little activities, little habits, and little ways.