Today’s Recommendation: The Art of Awakening

The Art of Awakening:
A User's Guide to Tibetan Buddhist Art and Practice
by Konchog Lhadrepa
★★★★

A presentation on the Tibetan Buddhist path to enlightenment, through the lens of an artist's eye and experience.

The sacred arts play an essential, intrinsic role in Tibetan Buddhist practice. Here, one of the great practitioners and master artists of our time presents a guide to the Tibetan Buddhist path, from preliminary practices through enlightenment, from the artist's perspective. With profound wisdom, he shows how visual representations of the sacred in paintings, sculptures, mandalas, and stupas can be an essential support to practice throughout the path. This work, based on the author's landmark Tibetan text, The Path to Liberation, includes basic Buddhist teachings and practices, clearly pointing out the relevance of these for both the sacred artist and the practitioner, along with an overview of the history and iconography of Buddhist art.

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Today’s Recommendation: First Buddhist Women by Susan Murcott

First Buddhist Women:
Poems and Stories of Awakening
by Susan Murcott
★★★★★

First Buddhist Women is a readable, contemporary translation of and commentary on the enlightenment verses of the first female disciples of the Buddha. The book explores Buddhism’s relatively liberal attitude towards women since its founding nearly 2,600 years ago, through the study of the Therigatham, the earliest know collection of women’s religious poetry. Through commentary and storytelling, author Susan Murcott traces the journey of the wives, mothers, teachers, courtesan, prostitutes, and wanderers who became leaders in the Buddhist community, roles that even today are rarely filled by women in other patriarchal religions. Their poetry beautifully expresses their search for spiritual attainment and their struggles in society.

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Daily Insight: Thich Nhat Hanh: Peace, Joy, and Serenity

“Peace is present right here and now, in ourselves and in everything we do and see. Every breath we take, every step we take, can be filled with peace, joy, and serenity. The question is whether or not we are in touch with it. We need only to be awake, alive in the present moment.”

― Thich Nhat Hanh, Peace Is Every Step:
The Path of Mindfulness in Everyday Life

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Daily Insight: Eckhart Tolle: You Are Not the Thinker

“The beginning of freedom is the realization that you are not “the thinker.” The moment you start watching the thinker, a higher level of consciousness becomes activated. You then begin to realize that there is a vast realm of intelligence beyond thought, that thought is only a tiny aspect of that intelligence. You also realize that all the things that truly matter – beauty, love, creativity, joy, inner peace – arise from beyond the mind. You begin to awaken.”

― Eckhart Tolle, Practicing the Power of Now:
Essential Teachings, Meditations, and Exercises
from the Power of Now

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Daily Insight: Eckhart Tolle: Voices in Your Head

“When you recognize that there is a voice in your head that pretends to be you and never stops speaking, you are awakening out of your unconscious identification with the stream of thinking.”

— Eckhart Tolle, Stillness Speaks ^

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Daily Insight: Pema Chödrön: Six Teachings Misinterpreted

“There are six teachings that you might misinterpret: patience, yearning, excitement, compassion, priorities, and joy. The misinterpretations are: You’re patient when it means you’ll get your way but not when your practice brings up challenges. You yearn for worldly things but not for an open heart and mind. You get excited about wealth and entertainment but not about your potential for enlightenment. You have compassion for those you like and admire but not for those you don’t. Worldly gain is your priority rather than cultivating loving-kindness and compassion. You feel joy when your enemies suffer, but you do not rejoice in others’ good fortune.”

― Pema Chödrön, Always Maintain a Joyful Mind:
And Other Lojong Teachings on Awakening
Compassion and Fearlessness

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Daily Insight: Mark Nepo on Wasting Energy

“We waste so much energy trying to cover up who we are when beneath every attitude is the want to be loved, and beneath every anger is a wound to be healed and beneath every sadness is the fear that there will not be enough time.

When we hesitate in being direct, we unknowingly slip something on, some added layer of protection that keeps us from feeling the world, and often that thin covering is the beginning of a loneliness which, if not put down, diminishes our chances of joy.

It’s like wearing gloves every time we touch something, and then, forgetting we chose to put them on, we complain that nothing feels quite real. Our challenge each day is not to get dressed to face the world but to unglove ourselves so that the doorknob feels cold and the car handle feels wet and the kiss goodbye feels like the lips of another being, soft and unrepeatable.”

― Mark Nepo, The Book of Awakening:
Having the Life You Want by Being Present to the Life You Have

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Words of Wisdom for Dec. 29, 2019: Thich Nhat Hanh: Peace, Joy, and Serenity

“Peace is present right here and now, in ourselves and in everything we do and see. Every breath we take, every step we take, can be filled with peace, joy, and serenity. The question is whether or not we are in touch with it. We need only to be awake, alive in the present moment.”

― Thich Nhat Hanh, Peace Is Every Step:
The Path of Mindfulness in Everyday Life

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Words of Wisdom for Dec. 27, 2019: Eckhart Tolle: You Are Not the Thinker

“The beginning of freedom is the realization that you are not “the thinker.” The moment you start watching the thinker, a higher level of consciousness becomes activated. You then begin to realize that there is a vast realm of intelligence beyond thought, that thought is only a tiny aspect of that intelligence. You also realize that all the things that truly matter – beauty, love, creativity, joy, inner peace – arise from beyond the mind. You begin to awaken.”

― Eckhart Tolle, Practicing the Power of Now:
Essential Teachings, Meditations, and Exercises
from the Power of Now

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Words of Wisdom for Nov. 27, 2019: Chuang-Tzu and the Great Dream

“During our dreams we do not know we are dreaming. We may even dream of interpreting a dream. Only on waking do we know it was a dream. Only after the great awakening will we realize that this is the great dream.”

― Zhuangzi, Genuine Pretending:
On the Philosophy of the Zhuangzi

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