Realization

Where has our joy gone? I have come to feel lately that joy is an expression of our own truest nature.

this week I'm on tour playing guitar with Krishna Das. Hanging with KD and the posse is always about dharma and music mixed together --- my favorite combo.

For those who are beginning to explore meditation practice, allow yourself to actually experience this "hot boredom" and not just jump off the cushion when that kind of restlessness is experienced.

We rarely if ever look at the "I" that's making our everyday assumptions. Our meditation practice, rather then being theoretical or metaphysical, is extremely personal and direct -- it's highly experiential.

It is essential that the teacher is thoroughly trained herself and completely personifies what is being presented. Sometimes the teachings at this level are called transmission or "ear whispered."

As we stumble through the fog of our sometimes overly discursive mind and say "I want to meet Buddha," if you shift that a little and say "I want to meet the awakened state of mind," then we have clarified what it is that we are looking for.

We are shifting from a global culture of consumers, whether for material wealth or power or spiritual states, to a culture of contribution.