Wednesday, January 24, 2018
Blessing Empowerment of Buddha Shakyamuni and Commentary to the Liberating Prayer with Gen Kelsang Tonglam
We are pleased to announce that for the first time in the history of Manila Kadampa Buddhist Centre, it will hold its first empowerment in the Philippines. The Blessing Empowerment of Buddha Shakyamuni, the founder of Buddhism, will be held on April 7, 2018 which is also the founding day of the New Kadampa Tradition.
Buddha Shakyamuni is the founder of Buddhism. For thousands of years Buddha’s teachings have touched the hearts of many transforming their life into one of great meaning and benefit.
On April 6-8, we have the opportunity to receive the blessing empowerment of Buddha Shakyamuni which is a beautiful guided meditation that helps us to make a special connection with Buddha and receive his powerful blessings so that we can experience supreme inner peace.
After the empowerment, Gen Tonglam will give a commentary to the Liberating Prayer – Praise to Buddha Shakyamuni, through which we will understand how Buddha’s love for all beings without exception can protect us from our inner problems such as anger, and is the source of all happiness. By relying upon this supreme unchanging friend, our life will become a truly blissful and meaningful journey.
Please see details in the attached e-poster. Booking is now open. Visit our website at www.meditationmanila.org. Rooms are limited so please book as early as possible.
Sunday, January 14, 2018
Friday, January 12, 2018
Delusion of Attachment
“Our problems do not exist outside our mind. The real nature of our problems is our unpleasant feelings, which are part of our mind. When our car, for example, has a problem we often say, “I have a problem,” but in reality it is not our problem but the car’s problem. Our problems develop only when we experience unpleasant feelings. The car’s problems exist outside the mind, whereas our problems are inside our mind. By differentiating between animate and inanimate problems like this, we can understand that the real nature of our problems is our own feelings, which are part of our mind.
All our problems—our unpleasant feelings—come from our delusions of attachment and self-grasping ignorance, therefore these delusions are the main causes of our problems. We have strong attachment to the fulfillment of our own wishes and for this aim we work very hard throughout our life, experiencing many difficulties and problems. When our wishes are not fulfilled we experience unhappiness and depression, which often causes us to become angry, creating more problems for both ourself and others. When we lose our friends, job, status or reputation and so forth, we experience pain and many difficulties. This is because of our strong attachment to these things. If we did not have such attachment, there would be no basis for experiencing suffering and problems at their loss.”
Excerpt From: Geshe Kelsang Gyatso. “How to Solve Our Human Problems.” iBooks.
All our problems—our unpleasant feelings—come from our delusions of attachment and self-grasping ignorance, therefore these delusions are the main causes of our problems. We have strong attachment to the fulfillment of our own wishes and for this aim we work very hard throughout our life, experiencing many difficulties and problems. When our wishes are not fulfilled we experience unhappiness and depression, which often causes us to become angry, creating more problems for both ourself and others. When we lose our friends, job, status or reputation and so forth, we experience pain and many difficulties. This is because of our strong attachment to these things. If we did not have such attachment, there would be no basis for experiencing suffering and problems at their loss.”
Excerpt From: Geshe Kelsang Gyatso. “How to Solve Our Human Problems.” iBooks.
Tuesday, January 2, 2018
We Need to Change Our Mind
“Throughout history human beings have sought to improve their external situation, yet despite all our efforts we are no happier. It is true that from the point of view of material development many countries are making progress. Technology is becoming more and more sophisticated, and worldly knowledge has increased dramatically. We know so many things we did not know before and can do things we never even dreamt of. Superficially it looks as if our world is improving, but if we look a little more deeply we shall see that there are now many problems that never existed before. Terrifying weapons have been invented, our environment is being poisoned, and new diseases are appearing. Even simple pleasures like eating or lying in the sun are becoming more dangerous.
The result of an unbridled pursuit of happiness from external sources is that our planet is being destroyed and our lives are becoming more complicated and dissatisfying. It is time we sought happiness from a different source. Happiness is a state of mind, so the real source of happiness must lie within the mind, not in external conditions. “If our mind is pure and peaceful we shall be happy, regardless of our external circumstances, but if it is impure and unpeaceful we can never be truly happy, no matter how hard we try to change our external conditions. We could change our home or our partner countless times, but until we change our restless, discontented mind we shall never find true happiness.
If we have to walk across rough and thorny ground, one way of protecting our feet is to cover the whole ground with leather, but this is not very practical. We can achieve the same result in a much simpler way – by covering our feet. Similarly, if we wish to protect ourself from suffering we can either try to change the whole world to make it conform to our wishes, or we can change our mind. Until now we have been trying to change the world, but this clearly has not worked. Now we need to change our mind.”
Excerpt From: Geshe Kelsang Gyatso. “Eight Steps to Happiness.” iBooks.
The result of an unbridled pursuit of happiness from external sources is that our planet is being destroyed and our lives are becoming more complicated and dissatisfying. It is time we sought happiness from a different source. Happiness is a state of mind, so the real source of happiness must lie within the mind, not in external conditions. “If our mind is pure and peaceful we shall be happy, regardless of our external circumstances, but if it is impure and unpeaceful we can never be truly happy, no matter how hard we try to change our external conditions. We could change our home or our partner countless times, but until we change our restless, discontented mind we shall never find true happiness.
If we have to walk across rough and thorny ground, one way of protecting our feet is to cover the whole ground with leather, but this is not very practical. We can achieve the same result in a much simpler way – by covering our feet. Similarly, if we wish to protect ourself from suffering we can either try to change the whole world to make it conform to our wishes, or we can change our mind. Until now we have been trying to change the world, but this clearly has not worked. Now we need to change our mind.”
Excerpt From: Geshe Kelsang Gyatso. “Eight Steps to Happiness.” iBooks.
Transforming Our Mind
“When things go wrong in our life and we encounter difficult situations, we tend to regard the situation itself as our problem, but in reality whatever problems we experience come from the side of the mind. If we were to respond to difficult situations with a positive or peaceful mind they would not be problems for us; indeed, we may even come to regard them as challenges or opportunities for growth and development. Problems arise only if we respond to difficulties with a negative state of mind. Therefore, if we want to be free from problems, we must transform our mind.”
Excerpt From: Geshe Kelsang Gyatso. “Modern Buddhism 1: Sutra.” iBooks.
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