I feel a need to remind you beautiful meditators out there that Lamrim is a preparation for Tantra, the path of desire. It is okay to think of yourself too. It is okay to want to make yourself happy too. The best way to give to people is by giving them something that you love. If you love to build houses, build people houses to make them happy. If you love to write songs, write people songs to make them happy. What you give will be most powerful if it comes from a place deep within your heart.
The power of Lamrim is it's teachings not only on love, but, on emptiness and karma.
It is teaching us that the happiness we seek for ourselves and others does not come from the object that we give or want. Happiness does not come from the house or the song. So, we must not grasp to the house or the song. We must not get caught up in 'ignorant liking and ignorant disliking' (remember the lesson a few days ago on mental afflictions and 'ignorant desire.')
The house and the song are empty. They have no inherent qualities in and of themselves that will make us happy or unhappy. Everything we experience comes from us; our past actions, our karma. The house will make us happy if we have the karma for the house to make us happy. How do we generate the karma for the house to make us happy? If we made people happy in our past.
The song is empty. How do we cultivate the karma to make the song something that will make us or others happy? The answer is always the same: if we helped people in the past, our good karma will lead to an experience of enjoying the song. Or our good karma will lead to other's enjoyment of the song. The song, the house, every object is empty and we fuel these objects with the ability to make us happy or unhappy by our past actions. If we think the song or the house in and of themselves is making us happy, we are caught up in an illusion. The song or house appear to make us happy. But, this is an appearance. It is our past actions that empower the song or house to make us happy or unhappy.
Everything we experience comes from us. There is nothing out there with any inherent qualities that makes us happy or unhappy. It is all our karma. This is why one person can hear a song and feel great. Another person can hear the same song and feel horrible. Another person can hear the same song and feel neutral. The song has no qualities. Whether you enjoy it or not, comes from you.
One person can live in the same big, beautiful house and feel great. Another can live in the exact same house and feel horrible. Another can feel neutral. The house has no qualities. Your experience comes from you. Everything we experience is a different karma ripening in the moment. It has nothing to do with the object.
The entire world is empty. You are empty. When we realize this, we become experts at planting seeds, at observing our actions, at planting the exact seeds to get everything that we want and to create the future of our dreams, our paradise...and the person of our dreams - in ourselves, in our partner, in our friends, etc...
Emptiness will be the topics of the last meditations in the Lamrim. Let's master it...and then months and years from now, we can share our stories on how we created our life to be our perfect world. That perfection will come from your awareness of what seeds your actions, thoughts and words are planting. You are creating your future world right now. Dedicate all your efforts, studies and practice to your quick enlightenment for the benefit of all. When you dedicate, your seeds ripen faster.
Love,
Reema
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