Difficulties are required | Great Middle Way

Difficulties are required | Great Middle Way

Difficulties are required

Posted on August 9, 2011 by Tashi Nyima

While meditating on the body, do not hope or pray to be exempt from sickness.  Without sickness, desires and passions can easily arise.

While acting in society, do not hope or pray not to have any difficulties. Without difficulties, arrogance can easily arise.

While meditating on the mind, do not hope or pray not to encounter hindrances. Without hindrances, present knowledge will not be challenged or broadened.

While working, do not hope or pray not to encounter obstacles. Without obstacles, the vow to help others will not deepen.

While interacting with others, do not hope or pray to gain personal profit. With the
hope for personal gain, the spiritual nature of the encounter is diminished.

While speaking with others, do not hope or pray to avoid disagreement. Without disagreement, self-righteousness can flourish.

–Thich Nhat Hanh

Ram Dass interviews Thicht Nhat Hanh

I have just watched and listened to the simple words of my first teacher, Thich Nhat Hanh
I remember my pilgrimage to see 'Thay' when he was in Vietnam 5 years ago.
I have no idea why I was propelled to see him.
Was it 'my hurt little child'  that sought him out as my Zen Master suggested?

When I picked up that CD  in the city bookshop titled 'The Art of Mindful Living' by Thich, my life was changed. That is how I started on the Buddhist path.
How fortunate I was to happen upon the dhamma  that day.
Even though I have tried to stay within one form of Buddhist teaching I find myself moving in and out of groups. Tibetan, Zen, Engaged Buddhism, Theravada.

Dipa Ma would not approve. She says 'Stay with one meditation practice and stick with it.'
Yesterday I was able to easily incorporate Calm Abiding meditation into my usual practice.
So strange - When I picked the title for this blog I had no idea what 'calm abiding 'was.
The name just 'appeared 'to me. Now I find I am connected a form of meditation practice that  differs from my current Vipassana practice.

Calm Abiding Meditation Practice

"There are many stages in mental development, but as soon as we are able to maintain the mind in a calm state, at that very moment there is joy and peace. This is reflected in the body becoming relaxed, and then the mind becomes more relaxed. As the mind calms down, the hidden enlightened qualities emerge more and more."

—Venerable Khenpo Rinpoche

My heart is with all my teachers.
Each one has showed me an aspect of what I need to know.

You can find Thich Nhat Hanh  looking youthful in his 80's on his web page.
http://www.plumvillage.org/
One day I could end up in Plum Village.

Please call me by my true names by Thich Nhat Hanh

Thich Nhat Hanh| Please Call Me by My True Names by Thich Nhat Hanh (1929 - ) Timeline Original LanguageEnglish Don't say that I will depart tomorrow -- even today I am still arriving. Look deeply: every second I am arriving to be a bud on a Spring branch, to be a tiny bird, with still-fragile wings, learning to sing in my new nest, to be a caterpillar in the heart of a flower, to be a jewel hiding itself in a stone. I still arrive, in order to laugh and to cry, to fear and to hope. The rhythm of my heart is the birth and death of all that is alive. I am the mayfly metamorphosing on the surface of the river. And I am the bird that swoops down to swallow the mayfly. I am the frog swimming happily in the clear water of a pond. And I am the grass-snake that silently feeds itself on the frog. I am the child in Uganda, all skin and bones, my legs as thin as bamboo sticks. And I am the arms merchant, selling deadly weapons to Uganda. I am the twelve-year-old girl, refugee on a small boat, who throws herself into the ocean after being raped by a sea pirate. And I am the pirate, my heart not yet capable of seeing and loving. I am a member of the politburo, with plenty of power in my hands. And I am the man who has to pay his "debt of blood" to my people dying slowly in a forced-labor camp. My joy is like Spring, so warm it makes flowers bloom all over the Earth. My pain is like a river of tears, so vast it fills the four oceans. Please call me by my true names, so I can hear all my cries and my laughter at once, so I can see that my joy and pain are one. Please call me by my true names, so I can wake up, and so the door of my heart can be left open, the door of compassion. 1989