Blessings,
The following comes from my yoga ritual yesterday. I thought it might be beneficial for those, like me, that have a hard time letting some things go. One of the questions I went into my practice with was about the gradual path to awakening. This was my answer:
We fail ? we succeed ? we grow ? we learn
Getting down on ourselves, berating and judging ourselves ? who cares ? we should eat our cake and enjoy it to. It does not help to get down on ourselves when we fail. We should enjoy our life, its tastes, smells, sights ? that is part of being alive.
Wherever we are, that is where we are. If we smoke, lust, drink and have a hard time letting go ? so what? Enjoy it. Really take the time to make it sacred, to make it real. Be present ? be true. Enjoy your life. Stop being a prisoner ? free yourself from negativity ? enjoy your life without guilt or shame.
Enjoy whatever you do ? then look at it, watch it, see it ? be honest with yourself ? how does it make you feel? Does it make you feel uncomfortable, sick, unbalanced, judged, drained? How does it help you? Does it bring joy and happiness, does it help you walk the path? Be honest.
Learn how it makes you feel, how it affects you, how it effects your path.
[INDENT]As we do this practice, many of the desires, actions, and feelings dissolve on their own accord. We do not have to fight it, judge it, beat ourselves over it ? the gradual path is beautiful because it takes us where we are. It is okay ? it is all good. We do not have to pretend or lie to ourselves. We just have to be honest and true with ourselves while being present and enjoying whatever we are doing. [/INDENT]
[INDENT]As we work with this practice we start to notice the subtleties of pleasure. We begin to recognize how the unhealthy things are not giving us what we want, and so, like a child who has grown out of their toys, so the practitioner grows out of those things that are unwholesome and harmful to their practice. [/INDENT]
We have our desires and that is okay. Maybe the next life we will go further, and the next, and so on until we reach our goal. It does not matter how many lives it takes. Enjoying the life we have, embracing those things we have before us ? that is good.
There is an old Buddhist story about an acetic who had suffered much for his path. Every day he would submit himself to the harshest austerities, starve himself, and do whatever it took to reach enlightenment. One day the Buddha walked by and the ascetic rushed over to ask the Buddha how long until he reached enlightenment. The Buddha told him to look at his right hand. The acetic did. Then the Buddha told him, ?as many fingers as you have on your right hand, that many lives you still have before you reach enlightenment.? The ascetic was devastated. He could not possibly live through five more lives. Throwing off his shawl, the ascetic gave up his practices and turned his back to the Buddha. The Buddha, saddened, continued walking down the path until he came to a woman dancing under a tree. The Buddha smiled and walked towards her. The yogini, seeing the Buddha, prostrated before him and asked, ?Sacred Buddha, how much longer until I reach enlightenment.? The Buddha told her to look up at the tree above them. She looked up. The Buddha then said, ?you will have to live more lives than there are leaves on this tree.? The yogini smiled and began jumping up and down. ?How lucky she was to have so few lives before enlightenment,? she thought. Life to her was the greatest of gifts, the greatest of pleasures. With this thought in mind she awoke and found enlightenment right there at Buddha?s feet.
Enlightenment is here, right now, in this place. By being present, by enjoying our lives, by being aware, thankful, open, free of judgment, accepting, and content ? all these things lead us to and become that which we seek: enlightenment.
Blessings Be?