“Having a continuous relationship with the enlightened ones.” Herewith another look at the value of meditating with the teachings of the Buddha in The Threefold Lotus Sutra.

“We need to fulfill our mission while we still have the time and ability. The way to do this is to have a continuous relationship with the enlightened ones and a connection to the teachings that the enlightened ones have shared. By practicing that every day, we should be able to reach enlightenment in a short time. If it takes three minutes, let it be three minutes; if takes three years, let it be three years. But let it not be three lifetimes.  – from “Practice Like Your Hair’s on Fire” by Gelek Rimpoche.

Presenting now the complete essay in several installments.

Practice like Your Hair’s on Fire

Gelek Rimpoche

(1)

  All sentient beings, including myself, have gone through continuous ups and downs, life after life, experiencing the sufferings of samsara. The reason we keep having all of these problems is because we haven’t managed to fulfill our life’s mission.

  What is our mission? In the most basic sense, we all have a desire for peace and happiness, and we all wish to be free from pain and suffering. But though we may experience happiness here and there, it is not the kind of happiness that has never known suffering. In fact, for most of us it is the kind of happiness that is based on suffering.

  We put a lot of effort into having material comforts, and on top of that we want mental and spiritual comfort. But even when we think we are working for spiritual benefit, if we dig deeply we may find that it is simply attachment—the attachment of bringing ourselves to a state of material or spiritual or emotional comfort.

  The kind of comfort most of us seek is a kind of stopgap comfort. We haven’t really addressed the root of suffering or developed the true cause of happiness. Once we realize that, and reflect and meditate on it, we can begin to see the true nature of suffering and the cessation of suffering. From there, one can make the decision to seek true peace, nirvana, which means freeing ourselves and others once and for all from suffering and its causes.