Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Sogyal Rinpoche - Being Fully Present

http://yoyo.cc.monash.edu.au/groups/eas/buddhism.jpg

This is the Glimpse of the Day for today on being present in our daily lives - sitting in meditation is great, and it helps us see the mind more clearly, but the really practice is in how we live in relationship with others.

What really matters is not just the practice of sitting but far more the state of mind you find yourself in after meditation. It is this calm and centered state of mind you should prolong through everything you do. I like the Zen story in which the disciple asked his master:
“Master, how do you put enlightenment into action? How do you practice it in everyday life?”
“By eating and by sleeping,” replied the master.
“But Master, everybody sleeps and everybody eats.”
“But not everybody eats when they eat, and not everybody sleeps when they sleep.”

From this comes the famous Zen saying, “When I eat, I eat; when I sleep, I sleep.”
To eat when you eat and sleep when you sleep means to be completely present in all your actions, with none of the distractions of ego to stop you from being there. This is integration.

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