Today’s advice from the heart: Always keep a smiling face and a loving mind, and speak truthfully without malice. I suppose you can imagine this one is sometimes difficult for me. I know quite well the wisdom of it, but between good ol’ monkey mind and the various emotional tides that comprise day-to-day humanity, this […]
Today’s Advice from the Heart: Do not be jealous of others’ good qualities, but out of admiration adopt them yourself. Do not look for faults in others, but look for faults in yourself, and purge them like bad blood. Do not contemplate your own good qualities, but contemplate the good qualities of others, and respect […]
Today’s advice from the heart: Generate compassion for lowly beings, and especially avoid despising or humiliating them. Have no hatred for enemies, and no attachment for friends. This piece of advice is difficult for me because I am anything but a neutral mentality. I have little difficulty being kind, but curbing my emotions is hard […]
Today’s advice from the heart: Since the happiness, pleasure, and friends you gather in this life last only for a moment, put them all behind you. Since future lives last for a very long time, gather up riches to provide for the future. You will have to depart leaving everything behind, so do not be […]
Today’s advice form the heart: Profit and respect are nooses of the maras, so brush them aside like stones on the path. Words of praise and fame serve only to beguile us, therefore blow them away as you would blow your nose. I admit, I had to stop and research the word ‘respect’ for this […]
Today’s advice from the heart: Avoid activities that are said to be meritorious, but which in fact are obstacles to Dharma. I’m not sure what this piece of advice ‘means to me’. I’m still noodling it through, and as usual, am doing so ‘real time’ in the interest of both being of the moment (mindfulness) […]
Today’s advice from the heart: Avoid all haughty, conceited, proud, and arrogant minds, and remain peaceful and subdued. I have to admit, this one is tough for me. Moreso for the understanding that all perspectives regarding another being ‘haughty’, ‘conceited’, ‘proud’, or ‘arrogant’ are, in fact, reflections of things within myself that have yet to […]
Today’s Advice from the Heart: Friends, the things you desire give no more satisfaction than drinking sea water, therefore practice contentment. One of the deeper lessons of Buddhism rests in the realization that desire creates suffering. It is a difficult concept for the western mind to embrace, as so much of our culture posits that […]
Today’s advice from the heart: Because you have received advice, whenever you are not meditating always practice in accordance with what your Spiritual Guide says. If you practice with great devotion, results will arise immediately, without your having to wait for a long time. If from your heart you practice in accordance with Dharma, both […]
Today’s advice from the heart: Dedicate your virtues throughout the day and the night, and always watch your mind. In Buddhist tradition, any merit one gains by one’s actions in the world is supposed to be dedicated to others. The most auspicious dedication being to dedicate any merit to or for the benefit of all […]