Words to Contemplate
“…….The malignant male and femal demons
Who create myriad troubles and obstructions,
Seem real before one has Enlightenment;
But when one realizes their nature truly,
They become Protectors of the Dharma,
And by their help and freely-given assistance
One attains to numerous accomplishments…….” –Jetsun Milarepa –
Who create myriad troubles and obstructions,
Seem real before one has Enlightenment;
But when one realizes their nature truly,
They become Protectors of the Dharma,
And by their help and freely-given assistance
One attains to numerous accomplishments…….” –Jetsun Milarepa –
Hard to practice when in trouble ( psychological, physical, or else…) but may be the only way through…
Thanks, Rinpoché, for this wonderful reminder of the Jetsun
Gratefully- Jean-Louis
Oh well, I got the massage. But How can I know that I TRUELY realized their true nature, for I am surely and obviously not enlightened yet. Is it the case that the realization is there when my fear is gone? I mean: REALLY gone?
So profound; the good part of my mind feels that is so true, so right; but so many layers of wrong views, concepts, the dualism in me makes it so difficult to truly perceive that truth – that, at this moment, i can only hope to plant that truth in my mind; pray that the true understanding will eventually unfold…. Thank you, Rinpoche, for making that possible!
It’s true. We, humans are likened to the demons, causing problems and holds malicious intention out of the desire to selfishly holds on all our worldy attachments. But once we had receive the true teaching and expose to path of realization, we will be able to slowly let go and re-channel the energy towards a better cause.
Thanks Rinpoche for the Sharing.
Sounds a little like shamanism. The spirit try to kill the chosen person, and if he or she survive, then the spirit becomes the teaching and protector spirit of the person who then becomes a shaman. The person survives not by fighting, but by giving up…or something like that.
Affliction is bodhi, bodhi is affliction.
i wish i were more courageous.
Initially when you are faced with obstacles and negative happenings. You will get angry, sad and frustrated etc. Sit in a quiet place. Calm yourself and relax. And think why does this have to happen? What is it that makes this to happen to me? You must also be humble to think that maybe you have done something wrong to whoever that you may not have remembered. Then you have the repercussion. If you are still not satisfied with the answers to your contemplation. Sit and contemplate again from another angle to your problems. You will be a happier and relaxed person. Contemplation sure can help by turning negative thinking into positive thinking.
excellent post. The fear is an emotion located in our reptilian brain, the most “inferior” part of the human brain, inherited from our animal ancestry. It is also based on mental projection and appear on the mind identified with the past or the future. If you realize that the only moment you have is now, and all is impermanence, and projections of the mind, you cannot have fear. You will have only compassion left for this monsters and you will subdue them. Also Eckhart Tolle spoke about this, this is alchemy of fear. I think this also the reason there are a lot of apparently wrathful and scary deities. They appear scary only for people identified with their fears, not for the people practicing non violence,compassion and love.
Thank you Rinpoche, a wonderful reminder that any demons we have in our life are all self-created, and that really, obstacles are just magical pathways that are placed in our way for us to practice harder. How compassionate the Gurus and Dharma protectors are to keep us protected and, at the same time, push us beyond ourselves, no matter what it takes. How kind it is for them to even “create” situations for us that may seem difficult just so we can do a little practice and WE CAN OVERCOME THE BUMPS on the path.
Thank you Rinpoche, and may I never be veered off the path by a a mere nasty obstacle.
The malignant demons which created myriad troubles and obstructions are refered to as the uncontrolled nature of our mind. Lama Thubten Yeshe said, the only way to gain control over our mind, is to understand its nature. When we realised the nature of our uncontrolled mind, control comes naturally. We can never force our our mind, the internal world to change, nor can we purify by punishing ourselves by beating our body. That is totally impossible. Purification is said to require a skillful combination of method and wisdom. When we truly realise the up and down nature of our mental attitude, we automatically want to implement a solution. As long as our mind is uncontrolled, agitated and dualistic there is no way. Automatically, our feelings will keep on changing and changing. Accordingly one needs to understand the nature of our own pysche mind and our feelings. If you make the right effort on the basis of right understanding, you experience deep inner satisfaction. True satisfaction comes from the mind, as what Lama thubten Yeshe had once said in his teachings records. However difficult a situation may seem to be, we sometimes may have to push beyond ourselves. No matter what it takes, through consistency of practice of such situations can we only perfect ourselves to overcome any such problems in our lives to benefit others!
Protectors sometimes manifest conditions/situations for us to overcome them.
When we have overcome them we grow! We won’t be affected by the same things again.