NURTURING THE DIVINE SELF – BRINGING MEDICINE TO THE HEART

Today I went with my family to the Temple of the Buddha.

This is a beautiful temple, one of my favorites in all of Japan, which has the Five Buddha Families present, so no matter what path we are on, we can find in the Buddhas Hearts and in ours one or more of the five supreme qualities that these Light Families offer to cultivate on our Path.

This could be the wisdom of reflection and diamond consciousness (Vajra Family), or calmness, equanimity, peace and love (Ratna), observation, radiant vision, radiant heart and mind (Padma), or perfect practice (Karma), or the teachings of our path, pure realms, mudra and meditation (Buddha).

I sat there in the temple for just a single breath, as my daughter was adamant we only sit for three seconds, which she counted out loud (she is a very strict master) and yet to my surprise I found the stream of kundalini flowing like a cool stream up my spine instantly in that short period of time.

Such is the wonder of power places, whether human-made or natural.

I was contemplating radiant mind and radiant vision and one morning earlier in the week I happened to be in an office before a meeting and had around 20 minutes just to sit undisturbed.

I listened to the Calm App I use when I am traveling as I find it very soothing to do the practices.

I do it slightly differently than they suggest so I will describe what happened.

I integrate my Daily Practice as I listen and today’s theme was balance and nourishment.

As I have said before I find Yogananda’s Kriya practice so beneficial as it helps me to still the body mind.

So first I need to get the body to be quiet.

I do that through chair yoga, tensing and relaxing and stretching muscle groups starting from the head and working downwards.

Then calming the mind through awareness and mindfulness, which is basically what the Calm App tries to do.

So being aware of and paying attention to the breathing, breathing all the way in until the end of the breath and all the way out until the end of the breath.

The first three breaths I work with the nervous system energies using three Kriya breaths up and down the spine.

At that point my mind lies on a still lake and I surrender.

Surrender is a challenging concept for many of us which is why I have found study of the Dalai Lama’s Kalachakra Tantra and the Vajra practice of bliss and the wisdom of emptiness so very helpful as I have mentioned.

Basically I offer my entire practice and all I am doing for the benefit of others. So at this point my mind is sitting on the surface of a still lake.

Literally.

And it can bring up the most challenging part of all.

To enter into the unknown.

So this time I did.

If I truly surrender everything at that point, and it does take many many attempts at practice, then the radiant mind and deathless state (or the clear light that manifests at the point of death) manifests in the Now.

So it happened again.

In two stages.

The first was, as I let go, my consciousness entered into a vast space, like entering a massive cave that has no beginning or end.

It is an awe-inspiring Vision/feeling as it is like the bottom dropping out of your consciousness as if you are on the top of a rollercoaster ride and as you start to drop you leave your stomach behind.

This is like that except you leave your self behind.

At this point two or three things can happen.

The space can get vaster until there is an explosion of light or sound or you suddenly realize you are in the space and the ‘I’ kicks in and pulls you back to consciousness.

Or as in this case, suddenly, like being struck by lightning, a magnificent vista opened inside the vastness, a radiant landscape, blinding and shocking to behold.

There is nothing like that experience on earth.

And so you realize all that has been spoken of by the Masters is true and everything is in your sacred heart and in the clear light of your infinite mind. God consciousness.

This in turn reminded me of the Medicine King, Bhaisajyaraja.

This Bodhisattva teaches us to have devotion, faith and gratitude for our path and all paths.

Once the Buddha was asked by a Bodhisattva from another world, how does the Medicine King travel between worlds?

In essence the real question was “How does the Medicine King manage to enjoy his journeys in this world and all worlds?”

The key is to know how to enjoy your journey as you walk your path of pathlessness.

Be more at ease.

Life is not a task to accomplish.

Nor is it a scheme or something we have to hurry.

We offer our work and service to others because we enjoy it.

We work without attachment to the outcome.

We work together in a spirit of freedom, liberation and joy.

We are unbound.

To success or achievement.

We do all this with a feeling of contentment or ease.

Like we are on a holiday.

The spirit of liberation is the medicine of the King and Queen in Our Divine Heart.

The Divine Being within us.

We practice non-practice, the action of non-action, doing not-doing.

When someone is in a poor state of being, consumed by negative thoughts, fear and anger, when they don’t have peace or understanding or inclusiveness, then their actions can be harmful.

The quality of our action depends on the quality of our being.

When we are calm, mindful, heartful, fully present, aware, then our presence means a great deal to others, even if we are not physically with them.

This is the essence of non-action.

Our presence becomes crucial for the well-being of others and the world.

We have to look into every moment to see the quality of being that arises from it.

My daughter reminded me of that when she made me meditate for just a single breath in one of my favorite places.

Look into every moment.

See the quality of being in every moment.

Stop.

Pause.

Breathe.

See, hear and feel what is happening to you in that moment.

See the quality of being.

Is it cool, warm, hot, calm, excited, agitated, fearful, filled with joy…

All of this and more is within the One Heart.

All of this is Medicine for the Divine King and Queen Within You.

Learn.

Gain insight.

Meditate upon it.

Free yourself.

Love and Blessings

Altair and Mother

With deep and humble gratitude to one of my teachers Thich Nhat Hanh for his wonderful stories he shared with me about the Medicine King, Bhaisajyaraja.

I AM THAT I AM, אֶהְיֶה אֲשֶׁר אֶהְיֶה ’ehyeh ’ăšer ’ehyeh

I am here to do the work of Our Mother by walking the Path of the Bodhisattva, Archangel and Elder in assisting all beings to find Krishna’s Bliss, Christ’s Light and the Buddha’s Heart and Healing within.

gate gate pāragate pārasaṃgate bodhi svāhā

ག༌ཏེ༌ག༌ཏེ༌པཱ༌ར༌ག༌ཏེ༌པཱ༌ར༌སཾ༌ག༌ཏེ༌བོ༌དྷི༌སྭཱ༌ཧཱ།

“go, go, go beyond, go thoroughly beyond, and establish yourself in enlightenment”