The willingness to do the right thing isn't natural to humans.

Like all hard things, it must be learned and practiced.

Like a muscle, it must be strengthened until it becomes an anvil capable of enduring ANY hardship.

Only when doing what must be done without resistance, will wisdom rise.

Experience of Meditation

To “possess the experience of meditation” means to leave your mind uncontrived, uncorrupted and fresh. Let your mind rest in its natural, unrestrained and free state.

By neither placing your mind on something outside nor concentrating inwardly, you remain free of focus. Within this great equal state of your innate nature, let your mind stay unmoved, just like the flame of a butter lamp that is not moved by the wind.

Within this state, experiences can occur: your consciousness may become overflowing, bright or stop altogether; blissful, radiant or free of thoughts; it may feel murky, without reference point, and out of tune with the ways of this world.

If these experiences occur, don’t attach any special importance to them, as they are just temporary experiences. Don’t cling to or fixate on them at all! That is called “possessing the experience of meditation.”

Padmasambhava's reply to the king as he asked: What is meant by “possessing the experience of meditation”?

Advice From the Lotus Born. - Rangjung Yeshe Publications

There are two ways to exercise discipline.

The inefficient and efficient way.

By inefficient discipline, I mean adhering to right action without fully knowing why we adhere to right action.

We think we know, but we don't realize it fully.

Perhaps we understand that doing our duties is “good for you and others.” But we are unaware of deeper reasons and implications of engaging in right action.

If we go to work, whether in a company or self-employed, we can see the work we do there as what we have to do to make money or, on the other hand, see the actions that have innumerable beneficial consequences.

Efficient discipline includes seeing the immediate and later benefits of our right action. When we are efficient, we see that our work allows the movement of other parts of the business, like a cog in a machine.

But this realization isn't black-pilled. On the contrary, it energizes us. We can see the logic, the real reasons, and the purpose of our actions. 

We're able to discern the narrative that improves the world.

We can see how others can do their work because of our work.

Action is reconnected to the world instead of being pointless, fragmented actions I need to do to make money and pay the bills.

As soon as we switch from limited cognition to expanded awareness of consequences, discipline is energized by understanding.

Make the switch.

"It is more important to show love for angry and powerful spirits than to constantly be in a state of narcissism. It is more important to gain at least for a moment the state of renunciation of samsara and awareness of the impermanence of everything material than to take care of the vain things of this life. It is more important to defeat ego-clinging than to defeat a hundred spirits from other worlds. A fleeting vision of egolessness is more important than a hundred years of ego-indulging practice. It is more important to remember even for a moment about death than to study and preach for a hundred years, desiring fame and learning. It is more important to remember at least for a moment the intention to help all living things and live doing good, a simple life, than to practice dharma and virtue for a hundred years, desiring glory, wisdom and purity for yourself."

- Yogini Machig Labdrön

“The whole point of receiving and practicing the teachings is to understand your buddha nature, which is the very essence of your being. This understanding comes through practice. If we lacked the buddha nature, what would be the point of the practices? Why would we practice these complicated techniques, and learn the symbolism, if the buddha nature was not already within us, waiting to be revealed? It would be ridiculous to practice if our true nature were not what it is. It would be like pressing a rock to get oil. The effort would be fruitless.

Yet, we must make efforts to realize our buddha nature, even though we all possess it. Just as you would not know that butter is the essence of milk unless you churned the milk—and not just a few churns will do; you really must churn with effort—in the same way, you must practice with effort and diligence to understand your own true nature.

Nevertheless, you must remember that practice only reveals what is already present. If you churn water hoping to get butter, it will not happen, will it? We undergo the hardships of the spiritual path because our essence is already Buddha. It is already perfectly realized. If it were not, practice would be pointless. The process is like refining ore that you know has gold in it. You work long and hard to extract the gold from the rock, but if you knew the rock had no gold in it, why would you try to extract it?”

Gyatrul Rinpoche

Many think they are present, but they are not.

They go to work without wanting to go to work.
They clean their house without wanting to clean their house.
They interact with people without wanting to interact with people.

If it were up to them, they wouldn't work, clean, or engage others.

They would only experience pleasant situations.

But they can't, so they force themselves to do things they must do to survive.

Their presence isn't presence. It is absence.

And we all sense their unwillingness to communicate in their communication.

We all feel their unwillingness to be here.

Perhaps we are some of them.

Perhaps we resist to solve the problems we have to solve.

This is no way to live.

It's the worst way.

To fix that, we have to practice Dharma.

We must take vows to benefit others repeatedly until our minds are redirected toward a willingness to connect.

We have to devote ourselves to sacred teachings until our resistance to be fully present is eradicated.

We have to meditate our asses off until we give up our addictions to pleasant sensations.

Because that's how we become absent. 

Through an endless indulgence with pleasant sensory phenomena.

Unwholesome food, immense amounts of alcohol, endless packs of cigarettes, hours and hours of social media scrolling, and full weekends binging on tv on demand.

Dharma dissolves the hermetic lifestyle we have lived since we were born.

Only then we'll we be genuinely here.

The Heroic Ideal and the Buddhist Ideal have much in common. One could even say they are the same ideal.

In this video blog, I explore the Heroic aspect of the practice of the Buddhadharma.

Main topics discussed:

- Why to practice the Buddhadharma, you need courage.
- Some definitions of "Hero."
- The aspects of the Hero that are present in the life of the Buddha.
- Why the practice of the Buddhadharma is heroic by nature.
- Human beings are not prepared to admit their mistakes.
- Why these days, no one dares to become an extraordinary being.
- Why the practice of Dharma will make you feel unpleasant.
- The real goal of Buddhist meditation compared to popular mindfulness.
- Why you might encounter energy imbalances when meditating.
- The reason Dharma practice is similar to dying.
- Dharma practice isn't just a peaceful practice.
- Selfless action as a heroic and spiritual aspect.
- Why the teaching of the Buddha inevitably leads to selfless action.
- The difference between mundane people and noble people.
- How Dharma practice makes you transcend the human condition.
- Why Strength is a quality of a spiritual practitioner.
- Is a Buddhist practitioner a warrior?
- The reasons why the Buddha is considered a warrior.
- What does it mean to be a worthy one?

If you enjoy this video, please share it with your friends.

Also, please let me know if you want me to discuss a topic related to the Buddhadharma.

https://youtu.be/TonucD_xnlM

YouTube

Why the Buddhadharma is a heroic spiritual practice

Usually, we think of Buddhist practice as being pleasant, peaceful, and healing. While it can be that for sure, Buddhadharma practice is also complex and thus requires courage to practice it. In this video, I discuss why Dharma practice should be considered…

“Mendicants, you should associate with a friend who has three factors. What three? They give what is hard to give, they do what is hard to do, and they bear what is hard to bear. You should associate with a friend who has these three factors.”

-Mittasutta, Aṅguttara Nikāya 3.135

The affairs of the world will go on forever. Do not delay the practice of meditation.

- Milarepa

Because of unbinding, emptiness expresses itself as liberated Right Action, liberated from the ignorant yearnings of an ignorant mind.

Right Action then shatters all clinging. All ignorant morality. All stench of ignorant slavery.

Right Action shatters ignorance because it is wise luminosity, empty of absurd, selfish taints.

It is effortlessly heroic because its nature is unconquerable, beyond conditioned existence.

It is what all of us are made of, but only a few realize and actualize it.

Right Action is Righteous because it is empty of primitive human desires.

It is holy because it is all accomplishing, all transparent, and entirely authentic.

It is empty of pretense. It is pure, empty truthfulness.