An event in May 2000 brought the Dharma into my life. Though I had touched base here and there with it, the Native Path, Raja Yoga, and my Catholic roots were all more forefront.
May of 2000 blessed the world with a celestial alignment of all the inner planets plus the Sun and Moon. It was the new moon of Taurus conjoined by Mercury through Saturn all in Taurus as well. A group of 20 or so of us were in meditative retreat to abide in these energies and, like others around the world, support their facilitation into the world and collective human consciousness. I was leading the retreat and all of its meditations.
At some point, a sublime luminous radiance overtook my consciousness and filled the room with peace. Emptiness and insubstantiality were dominant as the Blessed One was not formed, yet she was. Her presence was Presence itself, and without doubt in my consciousness, this radiant emptiness blessing the group and the world was White Tara.
My Dharma journey kick started with inner rememberings of meditation practices, teachings, and familiarity with this Path. The first books I was drawn to were deep teachings like The Life and Teachings of Naropa, and felt like home. The Heart Sutra was like water to a thirsty being, and the Kalachakra for 11 days with the 14th Dalai Lama in Toronto in May 2004 was joyous and deep. I understood the teaching like remembering being in a place before in a previous life.
I appreciate the Dharma because it is non-deceptive. It points everyone to themselves to find the Truth. That is not a superficial Path if one actually is looking for Truth. It is a Path of constantly deconstructing the artifices of the self that is looking, meditating, believing in this or that, living from whatever frames of reference one lives from; all of it being fabrications of reality. Instead, I want to be reminded that “all phenomena are impermanent”, that change is the constant, therefore creativity and potential are the actually always possible. My practice is emboldened by the contemplation of mind, emotions, perceptions, beliefs, cravings and attachments, avoidances and concerns. I am grateful and find relief in the exploration of the self in order to decode and deconstruct my self-made self and its reality.
Through these contemplations and resultant dissolvings coupled with insights, empathy and acceptance have grown. I often am moved to tears for and with the world or people I know or see; and will do what I can to be of benefit to beings.
- “Keep an unbiased, disciplined, honest, and joyous mind.” Buddha
- “Examine the nature of everything in its multiplicity; destroy the delusion of clinging to any of it as real.” Longchenpa
- “Buddha is not found outside yourself; indeed, the perfect Buddha is the mind.” from the Hevajra Tantra and quoted in White Lotus by the 1st Mipham Rinpoche
- “I pay homage to my own mind that dispels mind’s ignorance by eliminating the mind-sprung web through this very mind itself.” Nagarjuna
- “Awareness-emptiness is indivisible, and “compassion is the essence of emptiness.” dmm