Beloved Students:

It is my sincere hope for you that you may come to know and express your true nature. May you have the wondrous blessing of experiencing yourselves both being in and concurrently creating the Pure Land. May you know clarity, share peace and teach love in all your interactions with others.

I would like each of you to enter the month of March with a growth-driven desire to more fully understand you own Beingness. You are a reflection of all that is vast, wise and profoundly creative. You are heirs to the magnificence that is the Source of All Being. You discover this and all other truths through the exploration of the vehicle you call your mind. Although the word “mind” is merely an arbitrary name for the something you subjectively experience, there is value, nonetheless, in recognizing it as the means to experiencing both samsara and nirvana. It is the tool by which you recognize Being.

Your “Being” is a brilliant pattern of energies — a spectrum, you could say, of possibilities so vast it defies comprehension. This spectrum is by nature limitless, without form, without beginning or end. The movement of the mind toward enlightenment is an awakening, although often gradual, to the presence, indeed the pervasiveness, of Being. As many of you have heard me say many times, you have an eternity to discover Who you really are.

Know that you have, innately, the capacity to experience what might be called the open dimension of Being at virtually every moment. While you may not have as yet realized the capability to do so, the capacity is nonetheless present. This quality, or dimension, of openness is a primary characteristic of the Awakened Mind. However, because the ego mind is so fundamentally distracted by the conventional realm of experiencing, the Awakened Mind seems somehow remote. It cannot coexist, conventionally speaking, with confused and bewildered emotions.

The problem of transcending emotions is as old as the presence of humanity. While every spiritual tradition touches in some manner the importance of emotional mastery, the practices for transcendence do vary tradition to tradition. Opening oneself to free-flowing emotions seems somewhat dangerous, particularly to the more intense or aggressive ones. Additionally, such might put one at risk for incurring more pain and suffering. Since most really do want some measure of tranquility in their life, the notion arose that one must be "sensible" about/with emotions. Too much freely expressed emotion is disagreeable (both to self and other), and thus one form of suppression or another is adopted as a means for feeling in control. While it may be desirable to “cool” the emotions, the price is often a cooling of the ability to relate emotionally to one another. Another attempt to control emotions becomes apparent when one tries to “rise above” emotions. Such may prove useful in certain situations, but all too often the application becomes unconscious and creates an emotional sterility that is, at best, pseudo-spiritual.

While one caught in this trap may not recognize it, such applications really only amount to suppression of emotions and deification of will. Such may seem upright and proper, even efficient, but one pays the price of not being a whole being. Conversely, some feel that the way to freedom comes in living by whim and impetuosity. Thus, they abandon themselves to their impulses, only to discover that life then becomes a series of juxtaposed extremes: pain/pleasure; agony/ecstasy; boredom/obsession. This venue forces one to relate to life through intensity, as if intensity held some meaning in itself.

With this abandonment to impulse in search of intensity, the experience of life becomes (or can) very “earthy.” The tendency, however, is to experience Earth by crashing into it — at times with a sort of terminal velocity which makes contact with experience explosive. Contacts with other people may look like head-on collisions, resulting in repeated emotional injuries. Clearly, such relating is an assault on the sensory being of both self and other! Even so, many feed on this bombardment, and wonder why they feel so burned out, exhausted and drained by life.

The real lesson here is to recognize that moving in either of these directions (i.e. control or abandonment) avoids direct (dare we say “naked”) confrontation with the nature of one's energies. Thus, one is rendered incapable of fully and truthfully experiencing one's own being, to say nothing of one's realm of perception. What is needed is a means to experience one's emotional energies simply and directly. Human emotions present some of the unique attributes belonging to the human state. What if, in the final analysis of your human experiment, you discover your emotions are but reflections of your own awakened potentiality? Can you recognize them as light streams of your liberated mind without deifying them?

Please join me this month in listening to Forest of Delusion, a lesson I created for you only a few evenings ago. This lesson begins with the plight of Arjuna (of the Bhagavad-Gita) when he realizes the enormity of the task before him. He, like you, was confronted with living appropriately in a time of danger. He, like you, was torn between wanting to turn the tide before him, and weakly caving in to his destructive emotions. I hope you enjoy this lesson and find within it some motivation toward greater personal responsibility in precarious times.

Let us continue with our “Shi-ne” practice, a Tibetan word that means, “remaining undisturbed.” This month, in addition to your sitting Shi-ne, I would like you to take the quality of Shi-ne into you everyday life. Can you hold yourself undisturbed as you meet the challenges of each day? Let yourself begin to notice where you tend to lose this undisturbed quality of flow. When that happens, simply recall yourself sitting in your place of meditation, and try to bring the feeling of being there into whatever situation you must face. Let this activity be an extension of your meditative practice, and discover the urgent pull of the Self toward this undisturbed manifestation of awakening. Begin by sitting quietly with your eyes open, gazing at the floor some two to three feet in front of you. If you would like to place on the floor at your gaze point a colored sheet or piece of fabric that is uniform in color, please use a solid color, choosing from among blue, yellow, red, green or white. Follow your breath for 15 full breath cycles. If you lose track of the count, simply start over. When you complete the cycle of breaths, close your eyes, and feel yourself to be in the presence of your Spiritual Teacher. Make the feeling as real as possible, engaging as many of your senses as you can. Feel true reverence and respect for your Teacher, and allow yourself to be fully appreciative for His/Her assistance in your life.

See yourself sitting before your Teacher, who is seated on a platform or lotus throne about eye level in front of you. Think of some quality of the Teacher's that is very precious to you, and bow before your Teacher as a sign of respect to the Teacher and the quality you are cherishing. Be aware of your Teacher's love streaming to you, and feel deep appreciation for this gift. See yourself making a physical offering to your Teacher — something that the Teacher would know came from you. As your Teacher receives your offering, feel a loving smile coming to you from this Precious One. Feel yourself nudged to make a deeper offering — perhaps your promise to meditate daily and to dedicate whatever goodness comes from your meditation to your Teacher.

Review your life for the past 24 to 48 hours. Think of your most negative moment, and notice whether it was due to your thoughts, your words or your actions. Let yourself experience some genuine remorse for this, and then make a promise to your Teacher that you will not do this again for the next 24 hours. Next, think of a moment of kindness that you generated in that same period. As this memory arises, allow a feeling of warmth to arise at the heart level. Promise yourself that in the next 24 hours you will look for more opportunities to create goodness and kindness in your life.

Next ask to see the Teachings in every aspect of your life. Ask your Teacher to be a witness for your thoughts, words and actions in all situations. In difficult situations, ask to see the Teacher's face on the face of those who try your patience, as well as those you serve in love and kindness. Try to see what each situation would be like if you could experience it as your Teacher would do in each case. Have a sense that your Teacher is not only watching your every thought, word and action, but that your Teacher is ardently holding forth that you will make the best decision in every situation for all concerned.

Now ask your Teacher to stay with you for the duration of the next 24 hours. In the palace of your heart, create a room for the Teacher that is quiet and filled with love and reverence. Visualize the Teacher becoming small enough to fit into a beautiful pearl. Open the petals of your lotus crown, and allow the Teacher to descend through your Crown Chakra on an energy flow that brings the Teacher to rest on a lotus throne in your lotus heart. As the Teacher sits there in dignity and serenity, ask Him/Her to be both witness and coach to/in your life. Ask help in seeing your own thoughts, words and actions, that you may continually increase the purity of your motivations, and see through the controlling parts of your ego/mind.

With the Teacher enthroned in your heart, bring your focus to the floor or colored cloth before you. Using it as a backdrop, try to hold the image of the Teacher. See Him/Her as a living person (not just a photo or statue), and envision Him/Her doing the kind of things He/She would do were He/She in physical form today, such as giving a Teaching, or conducting a blessing ceremony or an empowerment. Try to hold this living, working image as you simply remain aware of your breath. Watch the Teacher performing virtuous tasks as you simply say "rising" on your in breath, and "falling" on your out breath.

Try to hold this image and stay connected to your breath for at least 15 minutes. Should you find it difficult, forgive yourself and just keep trying.

When complete, become aware once more of the qualities of the Teacher you wish to manifest in your own life. With each breath, draw those qualities into yourself, receiving them as a gift from your Teacher. Appreciate your Teacher's example, as well as your own opportunity to receive precious teaching at this time. After about 5 minutes, let yourself arise with royal dignity, knowing yourself to be purified by this work, and trusting it has generated transformation for yourself and Earth.

Walk in peace and love,
Djwhal Khul