When you first started... (lightweight question)

[Vasana]

I wish I'd known that the 4 thoughts that turn the mind to Dharma are just as important to reflect on through out the entite path no matter what higher teaching or training on meditation you've recieved.

[Simon E.]

1) Read what is essential..don't reduce your Dharma engagement to books and cognitions.

2) Spend as much actual real meatspace time with as many teachers and students as you can.

3) Do not attempt to practice the Vajrayana without a living meatspace teacher.

4) Never assume that you can judge your fellow students on your own subjective standards concerning height, weight, colour, nationality, diet, temperament or personality type. In particular, do not assume that they will share your ideas of what constitutes 'niceness'.

[Mantrik]

I wish I'd known that the 4 thoughts that turn the mind to Dharma are just as important to reflect on through out the entite path no matter what higher teaching or training on meditation you've recieved.

If you mean these Four Thoughts, then yes I agree:

http://www.rigpawiki.org/index.php?title=Four_thoughts

For myself: 'Practise Patience'.

[PuerAzaelis]

When you first got started in the Dharma, what was the one thing you would most have liked to be told at the beginning that would have made your life, or even your progress in the Dharma, easier? Something trivial, like "Eat a good lunch at this centre, because supper is usually very small"? Or something deep and meaningful?

1) Pick one thing, get proper instructions, then do it consistently. Become an expert in that one thing.

... Perhaps you don't get what I'm saying.

2) Also - before even beginning on practice, learn how to listen to dharma. Figure out who is the student and who is the teacher, who is the yellow belt and who is the brown belt. Turn the pot the right way up, clean it so it smells nice, make sure it does not have a hole in it.

3) Always begin again from scratch tomorrow.

[Josef]

I'm not sure anyone could have told me anything at the beginning that would have worked or helped much.
For me, it was time, and finding out for myself that I was full of shit over and over again.
It's always been easy for me to gather and collect teachings and intellectual knowledge but every seven years or so I am reminded of how little I really know.
Being stubborn makes it hard for me to listen, but it also makes it impossible for me to stop learning about and confronting my own flaws.

[daibunny]

Relax. Practice is not a life and death struggle against yourself, its more about just doing the method and relaxing and taking yourself as you are. If you just do the method, relax and give yourself a good helping of metta, you will make the road alot easier. After all practice never ends as long as there is life in your body, you will never be done, so why hurry to get there?
So relax and give your self lots of metta. Being tense about progress or goals just adds an extra layer of difficulty.

A teacher of mine included something like this in his practice instruction:

"Practice mainly consists of concentrating on your meditation object and then coming back to it. So if you are doing those two things you are doing it right."

[amanitamusc]

When you first got started in the Dharma, what was the one thing you would most have liked to be told at the beginning that would have made your life, or even your progress in the Dharma, easier? Something trivial, like "Eat a good lunch at this centre, because supper is usually very small"? Or something deep and meaningful?

Drink boiled water.

[KeithA]

Not a practitioner of Tibetan Buddhism, but I have always found this advice useful:

Be patient
Be persistent
Be kind to yourself

Good luck and thanks for practicing,
Keith

_/|\_

[KristenM]

Relax. Practice is not a life and death struggle against yourself, its more about just doing the method and relaxing and taking yourself as you are. If you just do the method, relax and give yourself a good helping of metta, you will make the road alot easier. After all practice never ends as long as there is life in your body, you will never be done, so why hurry to get there?
So relax and give your self lots of metta. Being tense about progress or goals just adds an extra layer of difficulty.

A teacher of mine included something like this in his practice instruction:

"Practice mainly consists of concentrating on your meditation object and then coming back to it. So if you are doing those two things you are doing it right."

Yes, it's not a race to enlightenment. There's no ego involved, or shouldn't be. The Dharma is there for you to help yourself. But don't use that as an excuse to be lazy. Be inspired by others but don't let their example discourage you from focusing on your own path.

[heart]

"Better 10 minutes happy practice than 1 hour so and so practice", a very helpful advice from my teacher. Wish I got that in the beginning.

/magnus

[srivijaya]

When you first got started in the Dharma, what was the one thing you would most have liked to be told at the beginning that would have made your life, or even your progress in the Dharma, easier? Something trivial, like "Eat a good lunch at this centre, because supper is usually very small"? Or something deep and meaningful?

Stop being like a kid in a sweet shop. Never consider so-called 'basic' teachings as lacking in profundity and ignoring them in favour of the so-called 'advanced' stuff. Find out, understand and implement what the man himself actually said (not what you think he said because it's what someone you respect sort of told you).

[Vasana]

"Better 10 minutes happy practice than 1 hour so and so practice", a very helpful advice from my teacher. Wish I got that in the beginning.

/magnus

Oh yeah, this. Also better to have a shortened practice in a calm or normal mindset / energy level rather than overexerting and pushing for a longer practice when you're already too agitated.

Also ties in with recognizing the need for a slow transition between the hustle and bustle of samsara and starting a retreat. Jumping in head first to a retreat setting with set sessions without moving from higher to lower gears first can be counterproductive. In short, be aware of your own energetic needs and be willing to adjust your practice accordingly when needed.

[Johnny Dangerous]

Ideas, beliefs, opinions and 'shoulds' are fine, but don't waste time worrying about them.

[daibunny]

Not a practitioner of Tibetan Buddhism, but I have always found this advice useful:

Be patient
Be persistent
Be kind to yourself

Good luck and thanks for practicing,
Keith

_/|\_

Excellent. Beautiful post. This is what i would have said if i werent such a blabbermouth

[weitsicht]

Allow yourself leting go. If you are not ready for that then stay away, look out for something else, do not pursue the Dhamma path.

Take your time. Allow things to ripen. Grass doesn't grow faster when pulling it.

You will be a different Person. You'll Need to be very honest with yourself. Accept that. Do not choose the Dhamma path accidentially.

Be prepared that Terms will be used differently to what you are used to. That Terms that had Little significance will be used inflationally. Start studying to get into this world but also watch carefully when that's enough. Then stop studying.

There are things beyond logic and common sense. You'll Need to allow yourself opening to that, without overly enthusiasm.

Don't mix the yanas

Check out carefully before (if) you commit.

You may read from that post that this is higher yana stuff. Call ist dzogchen or not. Like it, like it not.

[weitsicht]

I forgot one:

watch Matrix I with Keanu Reeves

[Boomerang]

Don't mix the yanas

What do you mean by that?

[Malcolm]

Don't mix the yanas

What do you mean by that?

She means don't use lower yāna explanations to try and explicate higher yānas principles, and vice versa. It is fine to cite something from lowers yānas if it supports higher yānas, for example, citing the Uttaratantra to elucidate tathāgatagarbha in Vajrayāna texts, or Madhyamaka texts to elucidate the principle of freedom from extremes, but you would not cite Dzogchen tantras in a Madhyamaka commentary.

[Simon E.]

It would be refreshing if that principle was widely observed..

[KeithA]

Not a practitioner of Tibetan Buddhism, but I have always found this advice useful:

Be patient
Be persistent
Be kind to yourself

Good luck and thanks for practicing,
Keith

_/|\_

Excellent. Beautiful post. This is what i would have said if i werent such a blabbermouth

Thanks for the kind words. We pretty much said the same thing, didn't we. This is funny to me, because the other a day, a Dharma friend said to me that "I have a saying for everything". I don't think it was meant completely as a compliment!

_/|\_