Have you ever had this experience? You are facing a problem so you set a goal and chant very hard for it. At some point you achieve your goal and then you say, “Whew, well now that’s done I can relax. I don’t have to chant so hard now.” And you slack off, either stop […]
When you are chanting for a goal, are you chanting with great intensity trying to force it to happen? Or are you chanting with faith that once you set the goal the universe will provide the path to achieving it? What does Trying to Force a Goal Look Like? When a person tries to force […]
When chanting for a goal, we often focus on the obstacles to reaching it. This happens because we are worried about them, or they seem overwhelming. Unfortunately, when we chant while focusing on the obstacles, we are inadvertently using the law of cause and effect to produce what we don’t want. Set the Seed Cause […]
When we are young we often think that we are not as good as other people because of inclinations or characteristics that make us different. Those may well be the very characteristics that make you unique, the indicators of a contribution you can make, which will be different from anyone else. There is a discussion […]
The immediate answer would be that we want to achieve this or that specific goal. But looking at the immediate goal is only is a limited, short term view. Long term, as we win over one goal and then another, we are inconspicuously forging the characteristics and life state of a Buddha. “The benefit we […]
You can learn how to navigate agitated feelings, when blindsided by life, to maintain stability in the face of shocks. Many people feel flung about by their feelings when confronting an obstacle. Usually they are talking about despair, suffering, anxiety and depression. These can take over when faced with an obstacle that seems impossible to […]
Sometimes we may have set a goal which might limit us, but we don’t know that. While we keep our eye on our initial goal that seems to take forever, our lives might be growing in ways we would never have imagined. But this growth is not obvious; it happens out of sight. The greatness […]
When we run up against a mental limit we think we are going to do something, and then we don’t do it. We resist moving forward, and abandon our goal or project. My Experience With Mental Limits I came up against my mental boundaries in the gym, where at seventy one I challenged myself to […]
When confronting a difficult obstacle, we may have doubts that we can ever overcome it. “Can I really overcome this situation using this practice?” we ask ourselves. This fog of illusion results in our inability to see our unlimited potential. Doubts about our unlimited potential can translate into doubts about the practice. We can’t see […]
Are you in the position of putting everything else in life before your practice? We’re trained to do that in our culture. We are taught to plan and strategize and talk over things with our friends. When someone starts to chant they are taught to chant first when dealing with an issue before doing anything […]