A couple of decades back, I heard Jack Kornfield suggest a practice of spending one day a week imagining that everyone you encounter is a fully enlightened Buddha who is here to teach you something. Now, as my Vajrayana Buddhist practice has evolved, I’d suggest turning that practice around, and not just for one day a week.
Lama Surya Das, the teacher who awakened me to the Vajrayana teachings, often says to his students:
I bow to the Buddha in your seat. Don’t overlook it.
In the Zoom sangha I attend daily, we often end the sits by bowing to the Buddha in each other. I’m probably not alone in appreciating the tradition but letting it wash over me.
How nice! Now, on with my day.
What about fully claiming that Buddha within? So many of us think we’re not yet there; we have more work to do before fully realizing our Buddhahood. We go from teacher to teacher, each telling us we fail to grok it because it’s so easy. But then… maybe there’s one more book to read, or another thousand hours of meditation practice will get us there.
I’m not knocking books and meditation practice. The proverbial God knows I’ve read shelves of books and meditated for countless hours, but there’s no there to get to. Our Buddhahood is already here. I’m reminded of this quotation from Zen philosopher D.T. Suzuki’s book An Introduction to Zen Buddhism:
Understanding which does not understand, that is Buddha.
I hesitate to use the phrase…
Fake it to make it.
It’s not faking if it’s true. Maybe what I’m suggesting is faking our level of conviction that it’s true. What if we stop waiting for a sudden flash of enlightenment and spend at least part of every day fully realizing Buddhahood?
Imagine how that would change our world. We’d see a pure land everywhere we look and hear every sound as a mantra.
Om many padme hum.
I’ll give you a few moments of silence to find a comfortable spot for meditation and to relax in your Buddhahood.
[You may click on the audio for the guided meditation. A transcript is available on the Substack post.]
Here’s a poem by John Welwood to carry you into the rest of your day.
Forget about enlightenment. Sit down wherever you are And listen to the wind singing in your veins. Feel the love, the longing, the fear in your bones. Open your heart to who you are, right now, Not who you would like to be, Not the saint you are striving to become, But the being right here before you, inside you, around you. All of you is holy. You are already more and less Than whatever you can know. Breathe out, Touch in, Let go. --By John Welwood
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The Buddha emphasized the joy of giving. Dana is not meant to be obligatory or done reluctantly. Instead, dana should be performed when the giver is “delighted before, during, and after giving.” —Gil Fronsdal.
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