Tantra Tip of the Day- Compassion is a Practice

Compassion for all beings is the foundation for all Tantric practice. The motivation to achieve enlightenment is born out of a desire to help others to awaken and to help end suffering for all beings. This practice is called Bodhichitta, which means “awakening mind.” In Buddhism the mind is associated with the heart and not the head. Bodhichitta also is associated with wisdom and spaciousness. So to activate compassion you awaken the heart with both wisdom and spaciousness.

Compassion is different from sympathy which can sometimes cause a feeling of being over whelmed by the suffering of others. If you become overwhelm by such emotions you are now one of those who is suffering. If you are suffering you loose your equanimity. Practicing compassion requires equanimity, an open heart and the intent to help others in every moment as much as you are able. Equanimity is an unbiased attitude toward all beings and is the foundation for practicing Bodhichitta. It is a state of being which requires awareness and letting go of attachment or aversion.

Here is a meditation for cultivating equanimity. Imagine you are surrounded by three people; one is your best friend, one your enemy or someone you dislike and one is a complete stranger to you. Now examine your feelings towards each of these people and see why you have labeled them friend, enemy and stranger. As you explore your feelings notice that these labels are impermanent. Your friend could move away and no longer be important to you. Your feelings for your enemy might be resolved if she offered to help you through a crisis. A stranger could become your friend or lover. In doing this meditation you can begin to let go of your attachment to your friends, aversion to your enemies and indifference to a stranger.

See if you can find a place of peace within yourself that allows you to see each person from a place of compassion. Generate the desire that all beings awaken and no longer suffer. You are practicing the beginning stages of Bodhichitta.

(C)Copyright 2009, Crystal Dawn Morris, all rights reserved.
www.TantraForAwakening.com
www.TantraGal.Blogspot.com

Original Art by Paul Heussenstamm
www.Mandalas.com

Tantra Tip of the Day - Three Steps to Inner Peace

Does your life feel like it is going faster and faster? Does it feel like you are being dragged into an undertow of drama; your drama, your kid’s drama, or the economic drama in Washington? How can you be at peace in the midst of chaos?

First, shift your attention from what is going on in the world around you to the space in which these things arise. Can you sense this spaciousness? If not, close your eyes and exhale with a deep sigh, relax and state your intention for inner peace.

Second, imagine a cord of light at the base of your spine; send this cord down through your legs and feet deep into the center of the earth. Imagine there is a tree, rock, crystal or whatever it is for you and tie your grounding cord on to this object; give it a tug to make sure it feels secure. Now, release anything that is preventing you from being fully present in this moment down this grounding cord. Notice how it feels to let go of past and future and arrive in this moment.

Third, allow yourself to become conscious of Awareness. Awareness is spacious, still and peaceful, it is always present and is the emptiness in which life happens. Experience this spaciousness. What do you notice about it? Even if you only feel it for brief moments throughout your day, these moments of peace, when brought into conscious awareness can gradually be extended. Eventually you discover that inner peace is possible when you follow these 3 steps; 1) relax and state your intention for inner peace, 2) ground your energy and release past and future, and 3) allow yourself to experience spacious Awareness.

(C)Copyright 2009, Crystal Dawn Morris, all rights reserved.
www.TantraForAwakening.com
www.TantraGal.Blogspot.com

Tantra Tip of the Day- Peace

This morning Sedona was wrapped in a blanket of snow and as I looked out over the red rocks covered in white and I felt a deep peace all around me. I felt the world around me was at peace and I could feel this peace in my nature.

Today allow yourself to find moments of peace woven in your busy life. Can you recognize the peace that is always inside you hidden under your thoughts and actions?

Emptiness Blooms in the Heart- A Weekend with Gangaji, Jan. 10-11

Between Thanksgiving and Christmas, I read Gangaji’s book The Diamond in Your Pocket: discovering your true radiance. This book is a gold mine of wisdom. I found answers to questions I have been curious about for years. She speaks with such clarity about emptiness, which is not so easy to do. As I read the words, I began to notice a real shift in my consciousness. My ego seemed to be dissolving. (It is an interesting thing to watch, this letting go of me as a separate being.) I have had many experiences over the years of entering ecstatic states of bliss, oneness, unity consciousness and they were marvelous, but as Gangaji points out- they end. This process is different. I am not in an ecstatic state. Instead of an “I” being aware, there is awareness of Awareness, that which never changes. This is a shift into a new way of being.

After Christmas I went online to see if she had any workshops in the near future and, to my joy, she was scheduled in San Diego Jan.10-11. I signed up immediately. My time with her was delightful. Her presence has a translucent quality and I could feel the Truth flow from her as a gentle, penetrating light. On Saturday afternoon, as we meditated with her, I felt a bouquet of roses, the color of emptiness, blossom and open my heart. This was so visceral I could almost smell the love and freedom as they filled the room. The path of self- inquiry she shares is so direct and powerful. Awareness is so clear and pure. I see now that thoughts, feelings, and desires will continue to come and go and yet this Awareness is always here in each moment.

This morning, I awoke at 4 a.m. and there were negative thoughts, fears that I am not being productive enough, to-dos, and concerns about the future. (There has been a noticeable desire to be in the flow and not to do for the past several weeks.) I lay in bed and watched the thoughts. I stayed aware and still the thoughts came and went. My mind remained busy until about 6:30, when I dozed off. I got up at 7:30 a.m. and watched a Gangaji DVD. It helped to hear her speak of Awareness and the traps the mind sets. Awareness settled in again. What I am learning is to stay present and watch the mind to see the story and not get caught in it, to feel the emotions but not become them, allowing whatever is arising to be as it is- conscious of it all and yet knowing it is not me. It is a new way of being and seeing.

Questions arise, lots of questions and, as Gangaji so beautifully suggested, there is nothing to expect and who is there to expect it anyhow?” So I relax, stay present and allow Truth to be revealed. http://www.gangaji.org/

“Life is the Guru kissing, slapping, confirming, denying. What does it mean to be true to who you are?” Gangaji