{"id":502,"date":"2009-03-19T16:19:31","date_gmt":"2009-03-19T16:19:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/onecity\/2009\/03\/hardcore-dharma-condenses-its-heart.html"},"modified":"2009-03-19T16:19:31","modified_gmt":"2009-03-19T16:19:31","slug":"hardcore-dharma-condenses-its-heart","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/onecity\/2009\/03\/hardcore-dharma-condenses-its-heart.html","title":{"rendered":"Hardcore Dharma Condenses its Heart"},"content":{"rendered":"

Last Saturday Hardcore Dharma continued its study of the Lojong by focusing on Point Four and Point Five of the mind training slogans.\u00a0 Point Four is typically called \u201clife and death,\u201d which Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche connects with the paramita of exertion or Virya.\u00a0 Introducing the slogans, he warns against laziness.\u00a0 I really liked Ethan\u2019s definition of laziness as passivity in the face of our habit energy.\u00a0 I love the term habit energy \u2013 to me it acknowledges both our by-rote means of avoiding the present moment as well as the potentiality we have to transform that by-rote avoidance, that energy, into spiritual food that fuels greater peace, insight, effectiveness and clear-seeing.\u00a0
\n
\nLately I\u2019ve noticed that I\u2019m often extremely overly protective of my space at work.\u00a0 I definitely view my job as a complete day job \u2013 it\u2019s part-time and if I haven\u2019t emerged from the \u201cwork\u201d day with 1,000 words worth of creative writing than I feel it was kind of a waste.\u00a0 It\u2019s not that I avoid responsibility (who are we kidding, I do a little bit) but they also don\u2019t give me much.\u00a0 I have no deadlines and I\u2019m surrounding in folks wearing sweat suits.\u00a0
\nThat said I\u2019ve got this kind of feral mole vibe when I\u2019m there.\u00a0 I don\u2019t look anyone in the eye, I don\u2019t engage in conversations, when the sweat suit brigade starts talking I generally put on my headphones.\u00a0 I\u2019m not playing anything – I just don\u2019t want to participate.\u00a0 Partly I do it because I have a, \u201cget in to work \/get work finished \/ get out of work with as much done for your own work as you can\u201d mentality.\u00a0 But I\u2019ve realized I\u2019m also just partly, simply, a jerk.\u00a0 I\u2019m afraid of these people that I don\u2019t have anything in common with.\u00a0 Honestly (really honestly \u2013 I don\u2019t like saying this) I think I kind of look down on them.\u00a0 Many of them care about and take pride in their job.\u00a0 I am so hung up in my own sense of outside importance that I can\u2019t, for the 30 hours I spend there a week, generously and authentically extend my presence.
\nI\u2019m not going to start fist bumping or baking cookies for my department.\u00a0 But how about trying to cultivate bodhichitta at work, Julesy?\u00a0 After all, I\u2019m trying to get to the point where I vow to save all beings single-handedly.\u00a0 Perhaps I could start with the group of people I see more than my mother?\u00a0 Especially since they almost all fall in either the neutral or averse categories of my estimation?\u00a0 This is where Point Four of mind training comes in handy.\u00a0
\nThe Point Four Slogan says to Practice the Five Strengths, the Condensed Heart Instructions in life and in death.\u00a0
\nThe five strengths are:
\n1.\u00a0 Strong Determination.<\/strong>\u00a0
\nIn the office, to me, this means that I need to cultivate strong determination toward practicing.\u00a0 Having consideration and noticing my effect on others.\u00a0 Not looking at my cell phone in the elevator or to the floor when I pass in the hall.\u00a0 Staying open, as much as my habit energy wants to seal myself up into a sour ball of self-consumed absorption.
\n2.\u00a0 Familiarization.<\/strong>\u00a0
\nIf I make a commitment to stay open, there is the opportunity to see exactly what happens when I want to shut down, get used to it, and see it for all its paper tigression.\u00a0 What am I afraid I can\u2019t offer?\u00a0 What judgments are preventing me from interacting with a fellow human being?\u00a0 Am I scared of embarrassing myself?\u00a0 Them?\u00a0
\n3.\u00a0 Seed of Virtue.<\/strong>
\nThe seed of virtue has to do with letting our virtuous energy overtake our habit energy more regularly.\u00a0 Wouldn\u2019t it be rad if I reflex-ed compassion rather than cocooning? Ha.
\n4.\u00a0 Reproach.<\/strong>\u00a0
\nSometimes telling nasty habit energy to hit the road is useful.\u00a0 While non-specific reproach is not good (saying I\u2019m a bad person never helped anyone become anything more than more bad) sometimes it is extremely useful to notice that seizing fear and tight energy gripping at you, tell that energy to quit it, (after all its wasting your time) and wait for your muffin like a lady.
\n5.\u00a0 Aspiration.<\/strong>
\nGil Fronsdale (a favorite eguru), in a recent podcast on Solitude, mentioned very adorably that he was going to confess something.\u00a0 What he was to confess, he said, made him extremely embarrassed.\u00a0 Slowly, he revealed that sometimes, when he was talking to a person, he noticed that he was speaking to them not because he was skillfully attempting to help, but instead because he wanted his listener to think he was smart.\u00a0 He announced this admission like he had said he sometimes killed kittens for fun and the group laughed at his sweet innocuousness.\u00a0 But Gil (I really like him as a teacher) silenced them by saying that the real question his confession brings up is this: \u201cWhat is the depth of motivation that you want your life coming from?\u201d
\nOr at least it silenced me.\u00a0
\nThis coming Saturday, Hardcore Dharma is testing for our in-class exam.\u00a0 Julia May Jonas, under-prepared, exits weblog forum to cram.\u00a0 Happy Ides.
\nhttp:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=zHnZS8mAKGM<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Last Saturday Hardcore Dharma continued its study of the Lojong by focusing on Point Four and Point Five of the mind training slogans.\u00a0 Point Four is typically called \u201clife and death,\u201d which Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche connects with the paramita of exertion or Virya.\u00a0 Introducing the slogans, he warns against laziness.\u00a0 I really liked Ethan\u2019s definition…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":190,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-502","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-arts-and-media"],"yoast_head":"\nHardcore Dharma Condenses its Heart - One City<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/onecity\/2009\/03\/hardcore-dharma-condenses-its-heart.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Hardcore Dharma Condenses its Heart - 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