ABK Practice

2024, August, Issue 109

Surrounded by beings

Of every kind

Happy beings drawn here to that

Happy energy

That

Happy energy

Just sitting there with love and compassion

Wishing that all beings will awaken,

Feeling that intense light,

Being present in that

As dogs lick your face

As cats purr

As birds hop around happily

As deer peek around trees, and

Mosquitoes sample your blood,

Just love and compassion with,

With the intention to fully awaken

For the benefit of all beings,

And all beings come to you,

Surrounding you, basking in you,

Basking in this love, as you

Generate Ultimate Blessings

For All.

A poem by Robert Aho © 2024

When we navigate through life, as we make our way through our day, through each moment, the practice needs to be very simple.  It’s important not to agitate ourselves with meditative and mindfulness practices that don’t flow naturally.  Awakening is the most simple thing in the world.  Don’t attempt to awaken through complex notions or intricate concepts and beliefs.  It’s very simple.

When we realize our real nature, the Nature of Mind, there’s nothing to it, even though it will be the most profound thing that you ever discover.  Maintaining awareness in the Nature of Mind is the real challenge.  We discover this most dynamic simple thing; and, then we, being humans, try to change and modify that.  This is not the correct way.  The Nature of Mind is not something that you can modify or change.  It is self-perfected, right from the beginning, for all eternity, from beginningless beginnings, beyond time itself.  Even time does not modify what we naturally are.

Now, this is a Dzogchen teaching.  It’s also what became abundantly clear when I traversed the death bardo.  It’s what I have to say.  If you are not ready to hear that, then you need to go right back to your foundation.  And what is that?  It’s about kindness.

In my house, you might hear me yell at the dogs, “ABK!”  That means Always Be Kind!  And, why would I say that?  It’s because simply being kind is the strongest element of our Spiritual Practice.  It is the most apparent aspect of this ineffable light.  It is non-judgmental.  It is loving.  It is compassionate.  This wisdom beyond time, concept and belief is loving compassion.  It is us wishing the best for all of us.  We practice that, and this awareness of our real condition in light grows within us.  All the misery and bad karma we’ve generated gets pushed off to the margins.

Always Be Kind.  Always be kind and life becomes better right away.  Beings of every type gravitate towards that.  They can sense what we are becoming.  They are drawn to light.  Even though beings do not always know what that ineffable light is, we have all experienced it countless times, as when we have traversed the death bardo, or in dreams.  That is when it has been apparent, even if it has just been a flash of light that occurs before being whisked away by the winds of negative karma.  We need to be kind in order to really have a sense of this light.

Our real power comes from kindness.  It does not come from force or coercion or aggression.  Those are signs of tremendous weakness and suffering.  All of the disturbing emotions lead to tremendous suffering and misery.  Even though we’ve been habituated to fight, we need to let that go, to take on something much greater than that.  We need to Always Be Kind.  That’s the base of your power.  That’s at the door to awakening.  You’ve had it all along, not knowing what a tremendous treasure that really is.

Kindness costs nothing.  Kindness brings everybody up.  Kindness opens a bright spot on Earth for all to see.  When a kind person enters a room, beings of darkness will start to growl.  It makes them uncomfortable, simply because they cannot do anything about that.  It makes them feel uncomfortable, that is until they start to feel overwhelmed by this bright condition.  Their heart and mind will start to open just a little bit, even though it is said that many beings will never open their heart and mind to our ineffable reality. 

I’m just not so sure about that.  It seems that there is hope for everyone.  We are all just sleeping Buddhas.

When you are always kind, then friends and foes are the same.  We don’t pick and choose who receives our kindness.  Now, this is not so easy.  If you thought that I was being too simple by talking about foundational practices, try to navigate among very negative people.  Look at how your Bodhicitta is when people are obviously taking advantage of you or causing you harm in some way.  It’s not so easy to remain kind.  This is why awakening is considered to be so difficult.

Never be afraid to go right back to your foundational practices.  Even Dzogchen practitioners must sit in Shamatha, or peaceful abiding meditation, from time to time.  We must not get distracted.  We must maintain our Spiritual Foundation, as well as our wellbeing.  If we find ourselves to be agitated, distracted or disturbed in some way, we must quickly attend to our own awakening.

Blessings in Light,               

Robert Aho