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July 16, 2012
WE HAVE THE POWER
Is it possible to abandon the suffering of samsara and pass beyond the suffering of samsara? If the world were created by a god, then we would be helpless. It would not be within our power to do much about our own situation, and achieve real happiness. However, some deity has not created the world, so we have the power to do something about our situation. That is because the situation we are in is the fruition of our own actions; our actions are a cause that has created this particular effect. Therefore, it is within our power to abandon the causes of suffering.
For instance, we hear about the great suffering that beings have to undergo in the lower realms and we feel frightened by that and do not want to have to experience that kind of suffering. So, is it within our power to prevent the experience of this kind of suffering? Yes, it is because ill deeds and non-virtuous activities are the causes of being born in a lower realm. And it is within our power not to engage in such ill deeds. In that way, it is within our power to do what we want to do. If we want to achieve nirvana or the state of having crossed beyond all suffering of cyclic existence, we can simply engage in the causes that lead to nirvana. |
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| EXCERPTED FROM
Pointing Out the Dharmakaya: Teachings on the Ninth Karmapa’s Text by Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche, page 13.
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Teachings excerpted from works published by Shambhala Publications and Snow Lion Publications. |
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Mary Stein
I remember bringing my textile work to a painting teacher, who I respected and admired. He looked at me and said, ‘You’re painting.’ I wondered, does that mean I should be painting on canvas and not in a textile class? But it also made me realize I was practicing fine art on a textile medium, the medium that I most wanted to work with. But he was of the ’50s generation of painters. He thought I should be out there stretching canvas. I was actually more interested in doing what women have been doing with their hands for hundreds and thousands of years. It was what I was drawn to and what I liked the most.
The path to my position at Shade was not straightforward. Having graduated from Ohio University, by summer I was not only married, but also awakening to the realization that an actual job needed to be found. (Getting occupation and matrimony mixed-up chronologically is not an invention of contemporary American culture.) Speaking with a friend, I confessed my dilemma: a college degree in hand, I had never thought about what to do for a living. My friend remarked that smaller schools out in the county were always desperate to hire teachers in August and early September. ‘You just need walk down Court Street to the county superintendent.s office and sign up.’
Dalai Lama Foundation Study Circle Montreal 