Siddhartha was an addict! Friday, Oct. Buddhism, Meditation & Recovery Notes
October 30, 2010
Another very comforting and mellow meeting! Thank you all for joining and contributing.
I read a few short meditations from The Pocket Chogyam Trungpa. Here is one:
Being Kind to Yourself
We have to learn to be kinder to ourselves, much more kind. Smile a lot, although nobody is watching you smile. Listen to your own brook, echoing yourself. You can do a good job. In the sitting practice of meditation, when you begin to be still, hundreds of thousands, millions, and billions of thoughts will go through your mind. But they just pass through, and only the worthy ones leave their fish eggs behind. We have to leave ourselves some time to be. You’re not going to see the Shambhala vision, you’re not even going to survive unless you leave yourself a minute to be, a minute to smile. Please give yourself a good time.
We also talked about the many connections between Buddhism and recovery. We even discussed how it is possible to consider a part of Lord Buddha’s life as his Addict Phase. He was addicted to being enlightened, almost starving himself to death. It was only when he realized that his addict life wasn’t working for him that he could see The Middle Way (a balanced life)–and it was only then that he could achieve enlightenment. Here is a picture of the Buddha in his Addict Phase–you be the judge!
