More on Milarepa

After I had posted my review of the Milarepa movie I began to rewatch the second movie in the form of a storyboard.   The story of Milarepa always touches me deeply and brings tears to my eyes.  This time the first words of the storyboard seemed to jump out at me.

May those who only hear, narrate, or listen to my story receive innumerable blessings and achieve liberation!

And those that emulate my life and meditate on it, may they find me in the Buddha pure land.

It was as if Milarepa was blessing me personally.  I knew in that moment that he would guide me.  Further, as I continued to watch him talk about his experience with his teacher, Marpa the Translator, I could feel the faith rise in me.  I could feel that closeness that  a student experiences with their heart teacher (and vice versa).  Very sweet.  I could physically feel my crown chakra.  I acknowledged to myself that my teacher was on my head (a traditional place to keep your teacher when you meditate).  And resonated with the joy that Milarepa expressed when talking about Marpa in his autobiography.

Throughout the next couple of days I continued to feel an open heart and the presence of my teacher and guide.  People that I gave massage to could feel the difference as well.  Really nice energy!

Today, I went to my ThetaHealer, Lynne Cockrum-Murphy, to deal with an unpleasant reaction I was having to a minor issue that arose last night.  She’s great with helping to remove dysfunctional automatic reactions and other obstacles such as those involving karmic patterns.  Since she is also an gifted channel, towards the end of our session, I asked her to find out “who my teacher was”, meaning the presence I could feel.  I also wanted confirmation of Milarepa’s aid.  This is the fun part of life for me.  If there is no magic then why bother living.

She did confirm that Milarepa was involved in what she termed “a lifting of several veils”, as was my teacher and myself.  This made me wonder what I had been doing that created a cause for this event.  Certainly, it wasn’t just the pledge or blessing that Milarepa had put into his story.  I knew this because I had already seen the story board before and I had already read the book.  As for what I did specifically to merit this, heaven only knows.  Perhaps the seeds were planted several years ago when I read two volume set of The Hundred Thousand Songs of Milarepa.  Or maybe it was other internal work or meditation I’ve been doing lately. (shrugs)  Probably everything is involved.

Now that I think about it, the funny thing is that I’ve been reading Madame Guyon lately and I’m in the section that has inspired me to be happy with being unhappy or whatever miserable state I am in.  She talks about how there is a tendency to lust after the good feelings one gets when they are close to the divine.  She claims true devotion means to be just as happy when the divine is not with us (because the divine is certainly out somewhere being happy) as when we can feel the close presence of divinity.  So here I am cultivating being happy with absence of connection to divinity when I am suddenly blessed with a real sense of connection to a divine and holy presence I call my teacher.

Anyway, I highly recommend that everyone read or watch Milarepa’s autobiography and emulate his life!  Although being able to give up those eight worldly thoughts are certainly harder than just deciding to do it.

My favorites:

Seven Pounds

Seven Pounds movie with Will SmithSeven Pounds is another movie in my top ten list of Buddhist theme movies.  This movie brings to mind the activities of a bodhisattva.  A bodhisattva is defined as someone that has bodhichitta.  And bodhichitta is the wish to become totally enlightened for the benefit of all sentient beings.  One of the activities of a bodhisattva is the perfecting generosity. Generosity is perfected when one gives without self-concern at all.

Although Will Smith is not motivated by bodhichitta, his role in this movie reminds me of the following quote from Master Shantideva’s Guide to the Bodhisattva’s Way of Life.

To begin with, Buddha, the Guide, encourages us to practice giving such things as food.

Later, when we become used to this, we can gradually learn to give our own flesh.

This may seem a little startling, but there are many stories of bodhisattva’s being asked to give of themselves and they do so without hesitation.  Indeed, one story of Buddha’s past lives has him coming upon a starving tiger and her cubs.  He sacrificed himself in order to save their lives.  Since the mother was too weak to eat,  he first cut himself and fed her his blood so that she would become stronger. Then he offered her his entire body and his life.  It is said that the cubs reincarnated and became his first disciples after his enlightenment.

In the movie, Will Smith gives up “seven pounds” of body parts in order to save people in need.  It is an interesting movie to stimulate thought regarding the practice of extreme generosity.


Alternate Reality

Yesterday, I was talking about the placebo effect of antidepressants.  I had started to write about my reaction to the denial surrounding the use of anti-depressants and went down a different thought train than I intended.  So, today I want to get back on track and talk about a new perspective I have been contemplating surrounding anti-depressant use.

It use to be that I lived in a world where I thought there was some truth I could find and adhere to.  For instance, I believed that anti-depressants did not work.  I even had scientific research to back it up. Now, I have an understanding that the world I live in is deceptive.  For instance, I once read research that claimed liquid extracts of feverfew were ineffective in treating migraines.  So, I stopped taking my feverfew tincture and my migraines came back.  So much for scientific research.

But it is not that the research is wrong…

Buddhism, Ho’oponopono, and new age perspectives all concur that the world we see around us is created (fully or in-part) by ourselves.  This means that just because antidepressants don’t work in my world, doesn’t mean they are not effective in other people’s worlds.

This means that I’ve “created” a world were anti-depressants do not work.  I see research that supports that, all my friends that use anti-depressants do not feel better, and I disregard claims that anti-depressants work as “placebo effect.”  And since the world I create is 100% real this is a valid reality.

On the other hand, other people live in a world where anti-depressants work.  Not just placebo work, but actually work.  They get mad at people like me that say their drugs do not work because they have evidence.  They have tried diet, exercise and herbs only to have those treatments fail.  These people go to doctors that know anti-depressants work and they feel better when they take them.  They really do have a brain chemistry imbalance that is corrected with pharmaceutical.  Their world is also 100% valid reality.

My reality is valid and all the alternative realities are also valid.

I have noticed that I spend a great deal of time arguing in support of my perceptions in my head.  I justify what I do by thoughts that support the rightness of it.  I also see others telling each other what to do and what works.  “All of us know what is right.”

I can imagine a true path to non-violence includes accepting that other people’s worlds are different from ours.  Not just their perspectives and experiences, but the actual makings of the world they live in are different.  They are not just apparently different.  They are functionally different as well.

I was once at a scientific conference with some of the big names in physics there.  One of the discussions centered on the problem of being able to replicate research.  For instance, someone (perhaps hypothetical) had developed a process of doing fission to create unlimited energy, but no one else could reproduce the process.  The creator had what it took to manifest this incredible creation, but others didn’t.  His world included fission, while for the rest of us it does not exist (yet).

The crux of the problem was what I just described.  Each person creates their world and if they do not have the karma or beliefs that include certain realities or if they have the beliefs that excludes certain realities then they will not experience them. As far as I know we have the technology to cure all disease, to feed all people, to clean up all pollution.  What stands between us and the Garden of Eden is simply misbeliefs held by the majority.  (That is why I like ThetaHealing so much.  It is a way to remove dysfunctional misbeliefs.)