A Monk's Guide to Finding Joy: How to Train Your Mind and Transform Your Life - Softcover

Khangser Rinpoche, His Eminence

 
9781614299158: A Monk's Guide to Finding Joy: How to Train Your Mind and Transform Your Life
Softcover
ISBN 10: 1614299153 ISBN 13: 9781614299158
Verlag: Wisdom Publications, 2024

Inhaltsangabe

A profound and practical guide to uncovering your own wise mind and kind heart.

We all want to find happiness. But how do we go about it? In this easygoing and clear-sighted guide, celebrated Buddhist meditation and philosophy master Khangser Rinpoche provides us with down-to-earth advice on how to train our minds and find our own innate wisdom and kindness along the way. He helps us see the profound insight that is open to us all, and how it can awaken us to the truth of the way things are. This insight into the truth, and the practices that help you cultivate this awareness, transform suffering into wisdom and compassion—and ultimately joy.

A Monk's Guide to Finding Joy brings the ancient Tibetan mind training tradition into our twenty-first century lives. Through stories, real-life examples, reflections, and meditation practices—all told with warmth and humor—Khangser Rinpoche shows us how we can transform the suffering of our life into happiness. When we train the mind from within the context of our difficult emotions we can find true joy, just as the oyster transforms sand into a pearl.

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Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

His Eminence Khangser Rinpoche was born in Kathmandu, Nepal, in May 1975. At five years of age, a search party positively identified him as the reincarnation of the seventh Khangser Rinpoche. He is one of three high lamas responsible for recognizing the rebirth of the spiritual leader of Tibet, His Holiness the Dalai Lama. Khangser Rinpoche completed his preliminary study of Buddhist philosophy at the Institute of Buddhist Dialectics in Dharamshala, India. He later went on to advanced Buddhist studies in sutra and tantra at Sera Jey Monastery and Gyuto Tantric Monastic University. It was there he earned the geshe lharampa degree and a doctorate degree in tantra, both with the highest honors in the top division. Khangser Rinpoche presently serves as vice abbot of Gyuto Monastery and as the founder and administrative head of Thangkar Dechen Choling Monastic Institute. This institute is both a monastery and a school, and generously provides food, housing, and education in both Dharma and contemporary Western curricula to over eighty young monks in Nepal. The entire student population comes from impoverished conditions, many of whom are orphans. Khangser Rinpoche has established many Dipkar centers around the globe, spearheading philanthropic efforts such as providing free food to those in need. He also established the Dipkar Vajrayana Institute to offer free Dharma education to all who wish to learn. Khangser Rinpoche is considered one of the great Buddhist teachers of the modern age. He has dedicated his entire life to providing spiritual medicine for what ails a broken spirit. He believes his mission is to help as many suffering beings as possible.

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CHAPTER 1

Nothing Lasts Forever

I suspect you already know that nothing lasts forever. Take, for example, the global toilet paper shortage of 2020. Once the stay-at-home order was issued during the Covid-19 pandemic, fear triggered homebound people to get creative. So, they created the toilet paper-filled panic rooms of their dreams. These early shoppers mounded piles of toilet paper in their shopping carts, raced to the register, then rushed their stuffed vehicles home. They attempted to hoard their way to security, an effort to make toilet paper last forever. Seeing this, other shoppers raced to score what was left. Social media and funny memes swiftly emphasized this scarcity, which encouraged yet another wave of hoarding shoppers. When latecomers were faced with those empty store shelves, where toilet paper used to be, they were shocked! Believe it or not, many people thought that toilet paper would always be available. Empty-handed shoppers were left dumbfounded and muttering, “Why me?”

For decades I have enthusiastically acted as a spiritual and material support to students, communities, fellow monastics, and laypeople. Based on my many years of counseling troubled people I’ve noticed that when something terrible happens to someone, the first question that most people seem to ask is, “Why me?” Of course, if something good happens in their life—for example, winning a million dollars in the lottery—they do not ask, “Why me?” Instead, they joyfully accept their good fortune and announce, “I am so lucky; I have lots of money to spend! I’m sure to be happy now!” That’s the way we judge our circumstances. We’re happy when things go our way and unhappy when they don’t. But is it helpful to take the good and reject the bad? Life inevitably has both good and bad circumstances. Furthermore, asking “why me” does not help you resolve the problem. It is like asking, “Which comes first, the chicken or the egg?” You will never know the answer. So why ponder such questions? The next time you encounter something terrible, do not ask, “Why me?” Instead, ask yourself, “Which came first, the chicken or the egg?” Because both questions are equally ineffectual.

It’s so easy to fall prey to the “why me” voice of self-pity in your head, but I implore you to instead accept the reality of the problem, just as it is. It’s empowering to take accountability for the issues in your life. If you accept your dire circumstances, you can transform problematic matters and in turn apply suitable solutions. First, you must genuinely believe the fundamental truth of impermanence. You must understand that life is always changing and that nothing lasts forever. Not even toilet paper. However, simply hearing about the truth of change and having an intellectual understanding that nothing lasts forever is not enough. You must live your life as though nothing lasts forever. That is why part of this book's mission is to help free you of feeling stuck in your hardships and stuck with the useless question of “why me?”

A Reason for Hope

It’s important to muster up the courage and accept the reality of your life just as it unfolds. In truth, just being alive is a great adventure. You will have all sorts of good experiences, but you will also encounter some unwelcome surprises. Some surprises might even seem devastating. Still, one thing is certain: there is always hope because everything is temporary. You, and everything you encounter, are between a hello and a goodbye. Change is inevitable. The sooner you can accept this reality, the sooner you can stop asking “why me” and instead face your problems so you can find real solutions.

When we flesh out the cause of the toilet paper shortage, many of us become terrified of the immutable truth that nothing lasts forever. The truth is that everything is constantly changing. But another unwavering truth is that you are much more intelligent than your fears. Subconsciously, you know for a fact that change is valuable. For example, the pandemic lockdown of 2020 determined my food choices. Since my lockdown occurred in a monastery in Nepal, I was left eating whatever was in the communal pantry. We had simple foods like instant noodles or rice for every meal. My mind was grateful for the food but my weary tastebuds tired of the same meals for months on end. A change couldn't come sooner! Fortunately, the lockdown did not last forever, so now I can genuinely appreciate a variety of foods. I will enjoy the variety while I can and will do so even more knowing that it is fleeting, like life itself. We should all feel so fortunate that things don't last forever. Can you imagine eating the same food forever? Would even your favorite food remain your favorite if you had to eat it forever? Imagine eating just cheese pizza, or my favorite, the impossible burger, forever! Fortunately, we live in a phenomenal world that is filled with change. Change, as well as the variety it brings, makes our mortal existence more enjoyable.

The rainbow is a symbol of hope. There would be no colorful rainbow if it weren't for the rain. You must weather the storm to even glimpse a rainbow. The weather is a perfect example of the variety and surprises your life holds. Surely you have noticed that lately, this variety has been more varied than expected, with fire tornados, orange skies, raining ash, deep freezes in the desert, molten rock streams, tropical snow, as well as houses and cars floating downstream. This all sounds like the stuff of science fiction, but this is part of the dynamic, ever-changing world we are living in.

In mid-February 2021, in the United States, the typically temperate state of Texas plummeted into an unexpected and lengthy deep freeze. The electrical grid, household pipes, and water resources were no match for the polar vortex. Infrastructure failures left more than 4.5 million Texas homes without power and resulted in 246 deaths. The events in Texas were catastrophic, but like the rainbow, there was hope! The snow melted and the utilities returned, giving Texans a chance to acknowledge the problems they faced, repair the issues, and weatherize properly. Even though the calamity with the Texas power grid will not be easily resolved, it brought awareness to a life-threatening problem so that helpful changes can be made. If you accept the reality of your troubles, change will help to change you. You have an incredible, natural ability to meet and adapt to the challenges of your life simply by accepting your problems and then evolving with the changes. You must take responsibility for your own world and rest your mind in the fact that no matter how great the storm, a colorful rainbow of hope awaits you.

Change provides surprises and diversity; just as no two faces are exactly the same, no two life experiences are the same. Furthermore, your face will change over time, and your life experience will alter, too. Transformation is inevitable—that is why the first part of taking charge of your life is adopting the understanding that life itself is subject to change. Life, without a doubt, will end in death. As a fact, you will pass away one day, as so many have before you. I urge you not to overly focus on the finality part, however, and instead focus on healthy ways to live so you can appreciate your life's journey right here and right now.

You need to be practical and know what is of benefit to your life so that when you are on your deathbed, you can say, "I had a happy life that was worth living." I can't stress the importance of this enough! Too many people waste their lives either depressed from clinging to unpleasant encounters in their past or...

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Verlag
Wisdom Publications
Erscheinungsdatum
2024
Sprache
Englisch
ISBN 10 
1614299153
ISBN 13 
9781614299158
Einband
Taschenbuch
Anzahl der Seiten
216
Kontakt zum Hersteller
Nicht verfügbar
Verantwortliche Person
Simon and Schuster Netherlands BV
info@simonandschuster.nl

Herculesplein 96
Utrecht
3584 AA
Niederlande