Teachings With His Holiness the Karmapa
I was blessed to attend teachings with His Holiness the Karmapa this past weekend. I will also be organizing for him to visit my school on Friday to follow up on his visit for UN Peace Day in September of 2009. Below is an article I wrote about his 2009 visit for an International Education publication. He also gave a beautiful talk at TED India back in 2009.
During the teachings His Holiness urged us to see how often times what we view as happiness is really “contaminated happiness” or suffering of change. Real happiness is formed within our minds and hearts and happens when we are satisfied with what we have. This natural, effortless happiness happens when we look inside, meditate, and connect with an inner feeling of peace. This happens when we come home to the present moment and are not prisoners of the past or slaves to the future.
His Holiness stressed that by cultivating mindful awareness for at least a few actions in our day we can make our lives more meaningful by not becoming like a machine just going through the day. The Karmapa also spoke about how the distinction between the Mahayana and Hinayana is from the perspective of the Mahayana. "Yana" means to carry, to pull or transport a load and this load is our responsibility and the "yana" is the vehicle. While the root of the Mahayana path is bodhichitta or the awakened mind & heart we need to simultaneously work towards our liberation and the liberation of all sentient beings.
He shared that daily meditation is a way to relax our minds. Just as the military go into training before war we could see our daily meditation as our preparation for daily challenges we may face. The more we become adept at meditating the less effort is needed throughout the day to keep our mindful awareness. When mental afflictions arise and we look at the afflictions properly then we diminish the intensity of those emotions. We need to be present for whatever comes up. His Holiness also talked about how we should look at emptiness as something we use in our daily lives, an opportunity to see all possibilities just like 0 represents potentiality.
Since my first teachings with His Holiness in May of 2008 until now I've seen him grow beautifully. What impresses me most about him though is his humility. I am grateful to have spent time in his space while in India.
