Interesting. I've read three comments now (yours and the ones from Pema Chödrön and Judy Lief), and the focus of the comments is the meditation practice. I wonder. I'd like to see my life as the practice, so for me the point of this slogan is that one should be able to live according to the teachings of the Buddha and the slogans and everything that is known about bodhicitta etc. not only when the conditions are perfect (when the sun is shining and you're sitting in your favourite chair with your favourite cup of tea and you feel terribly benevolent towards everyone) but always: in a storm, having missed the last bus by a second, having lost your umbrella, feeling really upset about the unfairness of it all. I have started realising that I am getting much more relaxed even when things don't work out the way I expected. Being able to relax in difficult situations seems to me an important part of the practice. So that is my take on this slogan.
In a recent talk Lama Rod gave he said that he used to talk about "formal" practice versus "informal" practice, and he would qualify the former as structured meditation practice and the latter as when we come back to the breath while we're just out and about living our lives. He said that he actually wants to change that idea, because he now believes it's all formal practice.
Ani Pema also talks about this, that there is meditation and 'post-meditation', which is how we translate the things we are studying and training in into the day-to-day, which is the practice, ultimately. This is also why Buddhism focuses so much on death and the dying process. The idea being that all of life is training with stabilizing our mind in the face of a chaotic, interconnected Universe. We will all die, but how and when and in what circumstances is unpredictable. So, when we come to the breath while waiting in line or in moments of tiny frustrations, then yes, we are training to be present when we encounter bigger and more disregulating things, the ultimate disregulation being the end of this life.
Interesting. I've read three comments now (yours and the ones from Pema Chödrön and Judy Lief), and the focus of the comments is the meditation practice. I wonder. I'd like to see my life as the practice, so for me the point of this slogan is that one should be able to live according to the teachings of the Buddha and the slogans and everything that is known about bodhicitta etc. not only when the conditions are perfect (when the sun is shining and you're sitting in your favourite chair with your favourite cup of tea and you feel terribly benevolent towards everyone) but always: in a storm, having missed the last bus by a second, having lost your umbrella, feeling really upset about the unfairness of it all. I have started realising that I am getting much more relaxed even when things don't work out the way I expected. Being able to relax in difficult situations seems to me an important part of the practice. So that is my take on this slogan.
In a recent talk Lama Rod gave he said that he used to talk about "formal" practice versus "informal" practice, and he would qualify the former as structured meditation practice and the latter as when we come back to the breath while we're just out and about living our lives. He said that he actually wants to change that idea, because he now believes it's all formal practice.
Ani Pema also talks about this, that there is meditation and 'post-meditation', which is how we translate the things we are studying and training in into the day-to-day, which is the practice, ultimately. This is also why Buddhism focuses so much on death and the dying process. The idea being that all of life is training with stabilizing our mind in the face of a chaotic, interconnected Universe. We will all die, but how and when and in what circumstances is unpredictable. So, when we come to the breath while waiting in line or in moments of tiny frustrations, then yes, we are training to be present when we encounter bigger and more disregulating things, the ultimate disregulation being the end of this life.