Good times
Grief is defined as a deep or intense sorrow. I have been thinking a lot about grief, about it's wide and sticky reach, about the watery quality of it's absorption and the agonizing effort of swimming to shore. Intense sorrow happens. It is a part of life. Yet we press against it. We try to eradicate it. How? We encapsulate our grief in a story, thus effectively removing us from the immediacy of the pain. The mind promises salvation and begins to tell a story, over and over and over. We listen to the inner ramblings, the constant diatribe, the neurotic attempt to avoid the experience. When someone is hurting we listen to their story, we talk about it, we recount our own story, but we certainly don't jump in the waters of sadness, instead we sit on the bank of our familiar longing. Once, when I was floundering in deep grief, my youngest brother knelt next to me and held me for over an hour. He didn't speak. He didn't commiserate. He just jumped in the
Comments
Here is a quote of the big fella~
The 37 Bodhisattva Practices Series:
Verse 1
1: At this time when the difficult-to-gain ship of leisure and fortune has been obtained, ceaselessly hearing, pondering, and meditating day and night in order to liberate oneself and others from the ocean of cyclic existence is the bodhisattvas’ practice.
Many people do not consider the preliminaries very important, thinking that because they have read a book they already understand the eighteen leisures and fortunes and don’t have to concern themselves with them any longer. They rather move on the 'real and more profound' practices. According to Lord Jigten Sumgon the preliminaries are most profound. You will only become free from the cycle of existence, the ocean of suffering, if your whole heart wants to become free, otherwise no matter what other advanced practices you may engage in, they will not free you from suffering and in fact, they may even reinforce the ego. In the beginning you must understand the preciousness of this human incarnation and how difficult it is to obtain. Normally we ask others, 'how did you sleep last night?' And when they respond, 'I slept well,' we say, 'that's really good.' If we didn't get enough sleep, we feel sorry for ourselves.
This is a sign that the thought of the precious human life has not yet fully dawned in our mind. If it would have dawned in our mind we would feel sorry for every minute we wasted sleeping. We would not be sluggish and grouchy in the morning, but upon awakening we would remember the precious human life and feel a sense of urgency to get out of bed. Thus in the morning it is important to remember the precious human life. You may wonder how to do your daily tasks without sleep. You do not need to abandon sleep, but you should practice moderation and discipline. Furthermore, if you practice for instance the Om Ah Hung Vajra Recitation as you fall asleep, your sleep will become virtuous. Every time you awake in the middle of the night, you should remember sentient beings and recite a few Mani mantras for them. This human life is the fruition of myriad virtues accumulated throughout countless lifetimes.
It is a one-time opportunity and we shouldn't expect to obtain such a precious opportunity again in the future. Knowing how precious this human life is, one would not waste one's time with meaningless activities. Moreover, one will always be joyful even if things seem to go wrong, if one becomes a beggar, is without friends and family, or without wealth. Let alone becoming depressed, one would be happy, knowing that one possesses a precious human body, the ship that can bring one beyond the ocean of suffering. In fact, one will know that worldly pleasures will only bring one's own ruin in the future. This human life is very powerful, for humans are endowed with intelligence and the six elements. It is the crossroad between going up or down. If we know how to use this human existence well, we can attain enlightenment in a single life. If we waste this human existence and engage in negative deeds, it will propel us into the lower realms for countless eons.