Given that no more new coins will be put into my life-time purse what will I choose to spend my money-time on this week?
I could spend it ‘Under the board-walk down by the sea’…I could spend it arguing with people who wish to argue about everything…side with the hyenas and cackle on the side-lines laughing at the non-sense…weep…do good works… or just enjoy doing whatever else seems pleasurable or a good idea to me just now…
The possibilities which seem available to me are karmically derived… and some will shine more than others with apparently inherent value… These are the ones which fit my conceptual notions of the world, myself, and what’s fitting for ‘me’ as I take myself to be.
Ok!… I’ve made some choices… on Wednesday evening I’ll do this… and at the weekend I’ll do that…I’ve got plans… Happy Days! : )
But just a quick rain check…
There’s a saying which isn’t exactly true, but you’ll get the drift…’if you always do what you alway do you’ll get what you always get’…repetition strengths the identification, makes it ‘feel like me, my kind of thing ‘
Alright…ok… ill take a look at my patterns of behaviour… I’ll also check out the prayer mentioned below.
‘It’s very important….’ ….apparently (🙏 It truly is ) …but I really need to check and see… how does it apply it to me?
With that in mind let’s see…how many coins do I have left in this lifetime’s purse?
Ans. Absolutely no idea! Maybe lots maybe a few, maybe just two or only one…maybe all gone by tonight…eek!
Well, I’m not completely compelled by karma, I’ve some sense of the problems and limitations of samsara…maybe a dharma breeze is stirring… I’m having second thoughts…
Reflecting that samsara’s gales are cooking up…what’s ahead? Which winds will I catch, in my sail of freedoms and opportunities, to help return me safely home?
Consider how many chances will there be to take the Padmasambhava/Medicine Buddha initiation…or to hear the second half of Radiant Aspiration expounded by a teacher who can reveal the true meaning underlying the words
The dharma as I’ve understood it is not at all ‘hair-shirty’*…and getting out into the fresh air is wonderful and may be what we really need just now…but it’s a very rare concatenation of circumstances which bring us and the teachings together…
It won’t happen again like this in this lifetime, so for myself I’ll be inside whatever the weather and so effing grateful for the opportunity…
So… May those who are able to connect with James teachings this week benefit deeply… and also all those who are unable also benefit through our inherent connection.
My little Thursday group is cancelled this week so people have as much time as possible both to attend and prepare – reading the book and the prayer that goes with the initiation. Juggling life’s constraints is not easy I know…and the prayer linked above and below, by Yigdral Yeshe Dorje may help revise priorities!
*If you check the simplybeing.co.uk website recent entries show some of many other beautiful and enriching ways to spend the time…to enjoy.. including music inspired by William Blake words, which I also took to heart through James …. and the making and distribution of tsatsas across the world…and and also..of course… studying and taking to heart this prayer
Thanks to Sean for the beautiful blossom picture… : )