Never Seeing The Same River Twice

As ordinary people, we always think we are correct. We think that we know everything. If someone says something that follows your belief system, then you agree with them. But if someone says something that is the opposite of your beliefs then you disagree.

Behind that mind is our ego. Because of one’s ego we really don’t see what is correct or incorrect. We see what we would like to see. Therefore, one’s ego will prevent from us maintaining an open mind.

But this habit closes the inquisitive and probing mind.

How do we cultivate an open mind? By observing without judgment. Meditation practice not only makes it possible but allows something that seems too difficult suddenly easy.

Buddhist Meditation and teachings is simply creating an environment for wisdom.

There is famous saying: “No one can see the same river twice.”

Once there was a monk named Milarepa who was highly respected in Tibetan tradition. There is an interesting story from his childhood. One day after school he decided to go sit by the river. He watched the water flow over the rocks noting how it is changing moment to moment.

When he was late getting home his mother asked him, “Where did you go?”

He said, “I went to the river.”
“What did you do?” she asked.
“I just looked at the water.”
“How could you just sit there and look at the water without doing anything?”
He said, " I was doing something. I was becoming aware."

With meditation practice we are training our mind to not be engaged with anything. Those who maintain this balance know that meditation is not boring but peaceful. The present moment is always new, just as the river is always new.

It is very difficult for some people to understand because their mind isn’t open to notice it. But if you take the time to notice the river flow, that is the beginning of open mind.

Practice to be open. Let awareness grow within your experience. It allows you to destroy the ego and see the reality.

Dog up for adoption

12 years old 62 lbs

No health issues.

Has several benign tumors checked by Vet recently.

Half Rotwieler, half Husky, but his disposition is all Husky.

very quiet, sweet, loving and loyal.

Raised on a farm. Happy indoors or out but he loves the outdoors.

Still loves to run.

Happy to lay by your feet and be quiet.

He had been neglected but is still very trusting of humans.

Very tolerant with other dogs and children.

Not neutered but willing to discuss splitting cost if that's an issue.

I will deliver him.

Needs a good loving home for his golden years.

Contact
Dave Rubin
612 703 0462

Oprah Talks to Thich Nhat Hanh - Oprah.com

Oprah Talks to Thich Nhat Hanh - Oprah.com

Metta Bhavan Practice

In the Metta Bhavana practice we’re cultivating love, or friendliness, or lovingkindness.

Our aim is to learn to emit an even supply of warmth to everyone we meet. This is an attainable goal for every human being, but it requires time and commitment.

The practice is in five stages. We cultivate Metta for:

· Ourselves

· Our family and good friends

· A “neutral” person—someone we lack strong feelings for

· A “difficult” person—someone who angers us or who is tiring to be around

· All living beings—this includes animals such as pets

Notice the progression. It’s natural for us to cultivate loving-kindness for ourselves and for our friends. It’s slightly more challenging to do this for people we don’t know well. And it’s a real test to cultivate lovingkindness for those who trigger our angst. Finally, we really must work to remember to cultivate lovingkindness for all sentient beings: i.e. all those known and unknown, visible and invisible—including people we’re in conflict with — plus ourselves of course.

Aside from these five stages, metta practice focuses on four intentions that all living beings be

well, happy, skillful and peaceful.

Metta practice focuses on four intentions. The aim of this meditation is that all living beings be well, happy, skillful and peaceful. We can talk about the four qualities of the Loving-kindness meditation so we understand the importance of this practice and why we wish this for ourselves. When we cultivate these positive qualities we train ourselves to overcome the powerful negative emotions of greed, anger, ignorance, fear, anxiety, and cunning, to name a few.

Be Well

When we hear these two words, our intention goes much deeper than the hope of good physical health. Think about the moment you get upset with someone. Whenever you experience the emotions of anger, frustration, fear, or restlessness, you are not functioning well. Whenever you involve with fear or anxiety, you become much more uncomfortable. No matter how healthy your body is, you will not function properly if negative emotions arise.

Sometimes when your body is sick, you can think properly. Maybe you can tell others. Your mind is stronger than your body. You can tell others what you want and don’t want, but when your mind is sick with fear, anxiety, anger, you are not doing well. What is behind this? This is not something someone can give you. This is something you have to generate. This is something you have to maintiain within you. We often blame others when we are angry or fearful. We blame the future or the past.

The one who has good protection will not involve with those thing. When ever you experience this, you notice it. That is the beginning of protecting yourself. That is the meaning of Be Well. In order to maintain this kind of wellness, you have to protect yourself from the outside.

Be Happy

We always look for happiness outside. We are trying to do something to make ourselves happy. How many times have you ended up unhappy after an attempt to make yourself happy? Just think about purchasing a new car. This can make you happy. Later, the same car can make you unhappy. Maybe you are excited to go to a party and see a new friend. Later, that same situation makes you unhappy.

Where is this happiness and unhappiness? Do you think it comes from the outside? It doesn’t. Happiness and unhappiness you can experience by yourself.

So now with this situation what are we trying to do? We are trying not to depend on the outside. We are trying not to depend on others. We are trying not to depend on the past or future for our own happiness. If you can experience the happiness within you, that is what you are wishing for. That is the permanent happiness that you can experience. That is unconditional happiness. We are trying to generate and cultivate that kind of unconditional happiness within ourselves.

Skillfulness

Skillfulness is very important. What is the opposite of it? What are the unskillful qualities we possess. Outcomes of greed, outcomes of anger, outcomes of ignorance or ego. Greed, Anger, Ego—whatever you do out of one of these, those are unskillful. So we carry these things in order to survive, to offer excuses, not to perform right action, we carry those things.

Recently, I stopped by the print shop to print something. Then I noticed someone left a jump drive on the table. An unskillful mind would encourage me to take it. Right away, I though I should hand this over to the manager of the store. Then, I thought, no, the manager might just keep it. I had many other thoughts. I thought I should keep it. The owner won’t come back. Jump drives aren’t that expensive. All these many thoughts came to my head. I thought, Don’t even touch it. Then, I thought the jump drive would be safer with me. Immediately, I thought, what is happening? Greed had arisen in my heart. I was making a lot of excuses about what I should do. One main quality that goes with unskillfulness: Cunningness. Cunningness 90% goes with ego, ignorance. It makes you heavy. It does not make you light. It makes you tired.

Skillfulness is training to overcome greed, anger and ego, and then cultivate unconditional love, unconditional giving, and unconditional compassion. If you can treat a homeless person like a member of your family, that is a skill. If something bad happens to a loved one, you will not runaway from it. You will help in anyway you can. Can you care the same way for someone suffering on the street?

Is your mind harmful to you or somebody else? If you have a harmless mind you will be free from fear. Those are the skills we should cultivate and we should introduce. What are the desires of those peaceful words, peaceful mind.

Peaceful

What happens with cultivation? You let your heart open. You open with those wishes. This allows you to become free, to become light, not a dark, heavy painful person. You are preparing your heart to accept and respect peace. With mindfulness, with breathing meditation, we are preparing the ground. With this we are planting the seeds in the ground so everyone can enjoy the harvest. None of you family members will hurt themselves because of you, because you aren’t sharing anger, you’re not sharing anxiety, you aren’t sharing fear. When they experience one of those, you will be able to help them build immunity. As a person with a healthy mind, you can look at and see how to help them build immunity. That is what we are doing with this meditation.

We should not give up the practice because of excuses and cunningness.

Special Event: Committing to your Spiritual Path

Precepts Observing/Renewing Ceremony 2010

-Commitment to Your Spiritual Path -


When: Sunday, February 28th 2010

Time: 10.00 a.m. - 12.00 p.m.

Where: Monks residence Mankato, Minnesota

Registration: Registration ends February 15th

Check to see the Precepts - Manual

To register go to http://www.triplegem.org/Precepts%20Ceremony%202010.html or send email to info@triplegem.org

Allow this moment to surprise you

by Bhante Sathi

If someone were to ask you, "What is the purpose of your life?" what would you say? You may list many reasons or you may draw a blank. If you do come up with an answer, it may not be the same answer you gave in the past. In reality, this is the most complicated question you could ever ask yourself.
On one hand, your parents created you; this was not your choice. Your parents raised you and educated you. You finished school and began to support yourself. Then you may go on to create your own family. This is the system your family has followed for generations, that you pass on to your own children.

I have a middle-aged friend that lives alone and unmarried. Recently, a few people asked me about her. They imply that this person is not normal because she does not have anything people are supposed to have at her age. The reality is, my "normal" is not "normal" for this person. This is what we need to pay attention to: What is this "normal"? We define life for others based on ouw own expectations. If someone goes outside the boundaries of these expectations, we think there is something wrong.

A mindful person sees this as thinking inside a box. With education and experience, we change the way we think and learn not to be narrow-minded. This helps us to become open and free, like one who moved from a small room to a bigger house. That freedom comes from having an open mind.
Yet, that is also a bigger box. A meditator notices these boxes all the time and continually breaks those boxes. It starts in this moment. This moment was not planned by anyone, so what is the reality?

We have a fresh future before us that we have never experienced before. Yet, we expect the future environment to be the same tomorrow and next week. If a friend gains or loses weight we notice because it is not the same as before.

We always want to see what we expect. We always listen to what we want to hear. Once we really start to listen, we see that we are continually creating a stereotype.
A gardener is similar to a meditator in the sense that a gardener allows surprises. This is the nature of life: last year was a great year for raspberries; this year the raspberries were abundant. Yet, in daily life we only allow the surprises that we want. For example, your spouse may change over the years in a way you did not expect. It is unpleasant when your house begins to decay. A dent in the car brings anger. Why are these events any different than a garden crop? The gardener can see that a flower may bloom for a day, then it may turn into something else or it may die. That's alright because it's nature. You can add some fertilizer to help it along, but in the end, nature takes its course. If humans are natural beings, why do we expect that our plan for life will be any different?
Meditators practice looking at the present moment without attaching to it, like the gardener who allows surprises to come and go. The difference is, meditators bring that attitude into everything. Whatever exists in this moment, the meditator accepts it as it is. If something grows, the meditator notices. If it needs water of fertilizer, the meditator attends those needs. But the meditator has no need to complain if everything doesn't grow according to plan.

When the we see something is unbeneficial, we should have a clear mind about the appropriate course of action. Meditation helps one to take action without negativity. When we allow life to surprise us, we can maintain a calm, quet mind. That means observing and accepting nature as many meditators and yogis have done for centuries.
We create ourselves within this system. Stepping out of that box is a hard thing to do. Meditation helps us to observe that, to notice that, and to step out of that. This allows us to take action, yet allow everything to surprise us.

Metta Bhavan Practice

by Bhante Sathi

In the Metta Bhavana practice we’re cultivating love, or friendliness, or lovingkindness.
Our aim is to learn to emit an even supply of warmth to everyone we meet. This is an attainable goal for every human being, but it requires time and commitment.
The practice is in five stages. We cultivate Metta for:
· Ourselves
· Our family and good friends
· A “neutral” person—someone we lack strong feelings for
· A “difficult” person—someone who angers us or who is tiring to be around
· All living beings—this includes animals such as pets
Notice the progression. It’s natural for us to cultivate loving-kindness for ourselves and for our friends. It’s slightly more challenging to do this for people we don’t know well. And it’s a real test to cultivate lovingkindness for those who trigger our angst. Finally, we really must work to remember to cultivate lovingkindness for all sentient beings: i.e. all those known and unknown, visible and invisible—including people we’re in conflict with — plus ourselves of course.
Aside from these five stages, metta practice focuses on four intentions that all living beings be
well, happy, skillful and peaceful.
Metta practice focuses on four intentions. The aim of this meditation is that all living beings be well, happy, skillful and peaceful. We can talk about the four qualities of the Loving-kindness meditation so we understand the importance of this practice and why we wish this for ourselves. When we cultivate these positive qualities we train ourselves to overcome the powerful negative emotions of greed, anger, ignorance, fear, anxiety, and cunning, to name a few.
Be Well
When we hear these two words, our intention goes much deeper than the hope of good physical health. Think about the moment you get upset with someone. Whenever you experience the emotions of anger, frustration, fear, or restlessness, you are not functioning well. Whenever you involve with fear or anxiety, you become much more uncomfortable. No matter how healthy your body is, you will not function properly if negative emotions arise.
Sometimes when your body is sick, you can think properly. Maybe you can tell others. Your mind is stronger than your body. You can tell others what you want and don’t want, but when your mind is sick with fear, anxiety, anger, you are not doing well. What is behind this? This is not something someone can give you. This is something you have to generate. This is something you have to maintiain within you. We often blame others when we are angry or fearful. We blame the future or the past.
The one who has good protection will not involve with those thing. When ever you experience this, you notice it. That is the beginning of protecting yourself. That is the meaning of Be Well. In order to maintain this kind of wellness, you have to protect yourself from the outside.
Be Happy
We always look for happiness outside. We are trying to do something to make ourselves happy. How many times have you ended up unhappy after an attempt to make yourself happy? Just think about purchasing a new car. This can make you happy. Later, the same car can make you unhappy. Maybe you are excited to go to a party and see a new friend. Later, that same situation makes you unhappy.
Where is this happiness and unhappiness? Do you think it comes from the outside? It doesn’t. Happiness and unhappiness you can experience by yourself.
So now with this situation what are we trying to do? We are trying not to depend on the outside. We are trying not to depend on others. We are trying not to depend on the past or future for our own happiness. If you can experience the happiness within you, that is what you are wishing for. That is the permanent happiness that you can experience. That is unconditional happiness. We are trying to generate and cultivate that kind of unconditional happiness within ourselves.
Skillfulness
Skillfulness is very important. What is the opposite of it? What are the unskillful qualities we possess. Outcomes of greed, outcomes of anger, outcomes of ignorance or ego. Greed, Anger, Ego—whatever you do out of one of these, those are unskillful. So we carry these things in order to survive, to offer excuses, not to perform right action, we carry those things.
Recently, I stopped by the print shop to print something. Then I noticed someone left a jump drive on the table. An unskillful mind would encourage me to take it. Right away, I though I should hand this over to the manager of the store. Then, I thought, no, the manager might just keep it. I had many other thoughts. I thought I should keep it. The owner won’t come back. Jump drives aren’t that expensive. All these many thoughts came to my head. I thought, Don’t even touch it. Then, I thought the jump drive would be safer with me. Immediately, I thought, what is happening? Greed had arisen in my heart. I was making a lot of excuses about what I should do. One main quality that goes with unskillfulness: Cunningness. Cunningness 90% goes with ego, ignorance. It makes you heavy. It does not make you light. It makes you tired.
Skillfulness is training to overcome greed, anger and ego, and then cultivate unconditional love, unconditional giving, and unconditional compassion. If you can treat a homeless person like a member of your family, that is a skill. If something bad happens to a loved one, you will not runaway from it. You will help in anyway you can. Can you care the same way for someone suffering on the street?
Is your mind harmful to you or somebody else? If you have a harmless mind you will be free from fear. Those are the skills we should cultivate and we should introduce. What are the desires of those peaceful words, peaceful mind.
Peaceful
What happens with cultivation? You let your heart open. You open with those wishes. This allows you to become free, to become light, not a dark, heavy painful person. You are preparing your heart to accept and respect peace. With mindfulness, with breathing meditation, we are preparing the ground. With this we are planting the seeds in the ground so everyone can enjoy the harvest. None of you family members will hurt themselves because of you, because you aren’t sharing anger, you’re not sharing anxiety, you aren’t sharing fear. When they experience one of those, you will be able to help them build immunity. As a person with a healthy mind, you can look at and see how to help them build immunity. That is what we are doing with this meditation.
We should not give up the practice because of excuses and cunningness.

Meditate to become a better You

How did you become involved in the science of meditation?

The Dalai Lama often describes Buddhism as being, above all, a science of the mind. That is not surprising, because the Buddhist texts put particular emphasis on the fact that all spiritual practices – whether mental, physical or oral – are directly or indirectly intended to transform the mind.

So it wasn’t surprising that when a meeting was held in 2000 with some of the leading specialists in human emotions – psychologists, neuroscientists and philosophers – they spent an entire week in discussion with the Dalai Lama at his home in Dharamsala, India. Later we agreed to launch a research programme on the short and long-term effects of mind training – “meditation” in other words.

What have we discovered about meditation and the human brain?

Experiments have indicated that the region of the brain associated with emotions such as compassion shows considerably higher activity in those with long-term meditative experience. These discoveries suggest that basic human qualities can be deliberately cultivated through mental training. The study of the influence of mental states on health, which was once considered fanciful, is now an increasing part of the scientific research agenda.

Do you have to be highly skilled to experience the benefits of meditation?

No, one does not have to be a highly trained: 20 minutes of daily practice can contribute significantly to a reduction of anxiety and stress, the tendency to become angry and the risk of relapse in cases of severe depression. Thirty minutes a day over the course of eight weeks results in a considerable strengthening of the immune system and of one’s capacity for concentration. It also speeds up the healing of psoriasis and decreases arterial tension in people suffering from hypertension.

Tell us about your new book, The Art of Meditation.

The book tackles the question: why should we bother to meditate? The answer is that we all have the potential for positive change, which largely remains untapped. That’s a great pity, because we know the virtue of training and learning. We spend years going to school and training in things like sports, but for some strange reason we don’t think that the same need applies to developing and optimising our human qualities.

Tell us about the Mind and Life meeting that will discuss compassion in economic systems.

At the conference – in Zurich in April – will be some bold economists who can demonstrate that altruists are able to influence global markets. In the past, such studies were often refuted by sceptical financial analysts. However, someone like Ernst Fehr, the famous Swiss economist, will show that if altruists make the rules and it is in the interests of selfish people to cooperate, then society can function in a more cooperative way.

Profile

Matthieu Ricard is a French Buddhist monk with a PhD in molecular biology. He has participated in numerous experiments into the effects of meditation on the human brain

Happy Buddhamas

Someone Else's Happiness

Sometimes we feel a need to be proven right as we look at someone else’s life choices; it is not that they are necessarily doing anything wrong or hurtful, but they may be living in a different way than we have decided they should be living. Or perhaps our advice turns out to be unappreciated or incorrect, as mine was, and we come face to face with the fact that someone’s happiness does not revolve around us and our fabulous prescience and good sense; instead, it is based on their own good sense, or even on sheer good luck. Can we let go of our need to try to dominate people’s lives and our determination of what the correct outcome of their decisions should be?

- Sharon Salzberg

Triple Gem Calendar: February-March 2010

* Precepts Observing/Renewing Ceremony 2010

-Commitment to Your Spiritual Path-



When: Sunday, February 28th 2010

Time: 10.00 a.m. - 12.00 p.m.

Where: Mankato, Minnesota - Location to be announced

Registration: Registration ends February 10th





*Sri Lankan Dinner and Culture Night

Third Annual TGN Mankato Building Fundraiser



Sunday, March 28, 4:00 p.m.

First Congregational United Church of Christ

150 Stadium Court, Mankato



Tickets $20 (children under 6 eat free)

At Buddhist Monks’ Residence

26 Sumner Hills, Mankato

(please buy tickets in advance, a limited number may be available at the door) Please contact us for tickets by phone, e-mail or in person.



For more information, please feel free to contact us at (612) 216-4854

E-mail: info@triplegem.org





*One day Meditation Retreat, March 27, 2010



Registration is required by March 18th

Space is limited for 25 people.



Register Click Now or Call (612) 216 4854 Email us info@triplegem.org