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Greetings!
Tonight we work with the water element and water dakini in terms of dealing with reactive patterns. We'll listen to Ken McLeod's retreat on the Five Elements and Five Dakinis. Tonight's podcast: FEFD03: Five Elements / Five Dakinis (retreat)Session 3Water dakini instructions; Issues of avoidance, flow, clarityTo listen along from home, click here for podcastI'd like to point you to the Five Elements Gallery on Ken McLeod's Ning site. It includes audio clips of Ken leading each of the five dakini practices, which is a great way to learn the practice at home. Also included are an art gallery of related images and summaries of each of the elements. Resources for the Dakini Practice have been posted here: http://www.luminousmind.net/class_wutyl.html |
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Earth Element / Earth Dakini Earth is shape, form, substance, support, and structure. Too strong and it leads to rigidity, which imprisons. Too weak and it leads to instability or lack of substance, and things never take shape. In reaction, rigidity is often a cover for uncertainty. In response, earth is nurturing, supportive, and free from judgement. Wisdom of Equality / Balance.  Water Element / Water Dakini Earth is about flow, fluidity, emotions, adapting. Too strong and it feels like a threat, a wave or current that will carry you away. Too weak, and there is no sense of connection or flow: things are frozen. In reaction, water is evasive, wishy-washy, difficult to pin down. In response, water is clear and transparent. Wisdom: mirror-like.
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Teaching from Ken McLeod
Verse 18 from The 37 Practices of a Bodhisattva:
When you are down and out, held in contempt,
Desperately ill, and emotionally crazed,
Don't lose heart. Take into you
The suffering and negativity of all beings -- this is the practice of a bodhisattva.
Most people, at some point in their practice, believe or want to believe that practice will make life better, or at least less painful. Ah, would that this were true!
At any moment, we could lose someone close to us through accident, flood, earthquake or violence. A fall, a stroke, a genetic inheritance, an unknown pollutant can leave us disabled or disfigured. Your work, your livelihood, can vanish with the flick of a pen. A mistaken or malicious posting on the internet can damage your reputation beyond repair. It doesn't take much to drive us crazy: a perverse or stubborn relative, an unsympathetic boss or colleague, a computer that suddenly stops working, a hormonal imbalance...
When things are just hopelessly bad and you can't see anyway they are ever going to improve, internally or externally, you can still just sit in your misery and form the wish that, through your suffering and struggles, all sentient beings are freed from theirs. Of all the Buddhist ways for meeting adversity, this practice of taking and sending is one of the simplest and one of the most effective.
Recall a time when you were distraught. Let it build a bit, until you clearly feel how upset you were. Take a breath, pause for just a moment, and then say, "I'm totally miserable, destitute, confused and unhappy and I can't do anything about it. Still, with all my heart, I wish that the same sufferings in others come into me and that they are free of them". Yes, it sounds insane. Yes, you will encounter a huge wave of resistance in yourself. But do it anyway.
Something changes, but it's not your pain, misery or confusion. It is your reaction to them. When you take in the pain of others, you move into a closer relationship with your own pain and confusion. Strangely, blame, rage, judgment and self-pity dissipate and you touch the pain of life itself. Compassion now arises naturally.
Compassion is not usually seen as a form of strength. It's often viewed as a kind of passivity. Yet when people help each other in a crisis, even at some cost to themselves, they come out of those experiences feeling stronger, more able and more connected.
Once, when asked about taking and sending, Kalu Rinpoche posed this question in response, "If you could really take away the suffering of everyone in the world, taking all of it into you with a single breath, would you hesitate?"
Would you?
In your very imperfections you will find the basis for your firm, way-seeking mind.
-- Suzuki Roshi
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Let's wake up!
With love,
Rita Frizzell
Luminous Mind
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