[Paul Easton]

I can see that my mind is strongly manipulated by chemical factors. About a month ago I started taking ritalin for ADHD. Yesterday I couldn’t find the pills until midafternoon, and I felt really out of it and mostly slept until then.

Also I was indirectly manipulated by karma which helped me find the pills. I decided to consolidate my garbage and when I picked up one container I heard them rattle. It turned out they had fallen in.

I can see I manipulate my mind when I decide to practice and to some extent by which practice I chose.

I don’t see that my mind is much manipulated by others but maybe that is because I am living like a hermit now, although I do stay in touch by phone and internet.

 

[Kelly Coburn]

The short answer to the question is “yes”!

Here’s just a sampling…

we were with a sick child this weekend and I spent much of my lunch date with my husband yesterday worrying that my daughter was going to get sick (and thereby complicate my trip to Coooperstown this week), instead of enjoying our time together. I was creating whole storylines and scenarios to feed anxiety, despite knowing exactly what I was doing.

noticing I wasn’t asked my preference about something led to annoyance and the thought “he doesn’t care what I think.”  cut that one before it was full-blown anger…

spending much of a beach walk ruminating on a time from seven years ago when our neighbor here was angry with me about something and ignored/avoided me for about a month–I never found out why and to this day will find myself lost in the story, imagining what might have happened, fantisizing about asking what happened, reliving the hurt, just by walking past her house on my way to the beach (despite reminding myself that at this point it is all my thinking creating the suffering)

my son anwered me abruptly (as teenagers sometimes do), and I found myself taking it personally (and not in a good way)

wondering if I am doing this exercise “right”–having long conversations in my mind with Hilary and Matthew about it before sending this reply–wondering if Rinpoche thinks I am an idiot or worthy of being his student or…

That’s just a small sampling…

And funny that I chose to focus on the negative manipulations, instead of the feeling of joy when same son sought me out to share something and I thought, “how cool, he still likes me!” and countless other positive moments…

[Paul Sharp]

Hi Kelly,

Thank you for sharing your experience.

We all have this type of issue. One instruction of Phakchok Rinpoche that has helped me a lot is, “Notice, but don’t judge”. Not judging means to not judge oneself as well as not judging others. We basically do this a lot. Gradually noticing this habit and each day changing it a little bit brings a large transformation in how we experience ourself and those around us.

Thanks again :)

Best,

Paul

[phillip Gardner]

Today I spent the day in the city, something I rarely do these days. I could see how the sights,sounds,smells etc are all designed to pull you towards them. The aim is to draw you out of yourself and into an external source of pleasure. Fascinating to notice this and see how my mind is pulled towards and away from different phenomena.

[Paul Easton]

I can see that the pattern of my stream of consciousness is that at each moment of completion I turn  immediately to the next low hanging fruit that promises some education or amusement. Is this being manipulated? I would call it habit, or my karma.

I can see that I am dissatisfied with this situation because my time is dissipated into relatively trivial pursuits. I think what I should do is to manipulate my mind to create a counter habit. At each moment of completion I want to go into emptiness and then consider what is the most significant action I can take to best approach my goals. This is manipulation and it is hard. It is hard to remember to do it.

I think maybe the best way to approach it is to try to remember at each moment of completion to say a prayer. Or maybe I should hold to the awareness of emptiness at all times. The latter course would be less fallible. I will try to do it.

 

[Paul Sharp]

Hi Phil,

Thank you for that. Surely this is the case for every one of us.

Phakchok Rinpoche mentioned this during the Dawn of Dharma retreat that just ended a few days ago. He quoted his guru Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche in saying that ” Our mind is fickle and appearances are beguiling”. Because of this we need to recognize that our mind is fragile and easily swayed. Rinpoche said we shouldn’t be upset or discouraged that this is the case, but by being aware of it and recognizing it we can change our habits. We can also recognize how important and powerful the mind actually is. Then slowly we can use the dharma teachings and methods to tame the mind. As Rinpoche also mentioned during the retreat, “the essence of the dharma is to tame one’s own mind”.

:)

Paul

 

[Paul Sharp]

Dear Paul,

Thank you for your posts :)

The essential point of the dharma is to benefit others through compassion and wisdom.  The way we can practically begin to do this is to recall again and again that we are not alone, all sentient beings have a mind just like we do. Where there is mind, there are emotions, where there are emotions there are actions based on those emotions and that action creates karma and where there is karma there is samsara and suffering. All beings have emotional pain and woundedness and genuinely wish to be happy, just as we do.

With a joyful mind we can simply have the aspiration that whatever actions we carry out with body, speech and mind may remove the suffering of all sentient beings and give them the happiness they wish for. That ultimately this may lead them to the path of the Buddha and culminate in complete enlightenment. This aspiration will make our life meaningful and purposeful and is a proper base for all dharma practice.

Warm wishes,

Paul

[Paul Easton]

I had a sort of amusing experience yesterday when my feelings of loneliness and desire led me to construct a completely unreal picture of someone that I met. A little later I happened to look at a short email teaching from Tulku Thondup about chasing rainbows and that led me to think about what I was doing.

My plan to rely on emptiness awareness to point me in the right direction did not work out. I think Paul is right that I need to spend some time contemplating my unselfish aspirations.