Attaining Lasting Satisfaction – Part 2

ATTAINING LASTING SATISFACTION – PART 2

In this series, you will be listening to eight lightly edited audio recordings of teachings given by Gelek Rimpoche as part of an ongoing series in 2003 at Renaissance Unity, an inclusive spiritual community in Warren, Michigan.

Addressing a public audience over eight sessions, Gelek Rimpoche explores a range of topics with their titles and descriptions listed below. Please note that the audio sessions follow the descriptions.

9. Ego and Self
Ego as a combination of ignorance, confusion and fear puts our true self to sleep and accepts mistaken perceptions, resulting in negative emotions like anger, hatred and ensuing wrong actions. When we recognize our habitual sense of self and others as distorted, we begin to open to wisdom.

Gelek Rimpoche describes how, through concerted spiritual effort, Buddha realized how to cut through this distorted sense of self and left us with instructions on how to do the same.

10. Revolutionizing the Quest for Self Fulfillment
What is revolutionary about the spiritual path is the choice to challenge our habituated, self-important perspective while developing a new way of being in the world – holding the happiness of others as our center.

Gelek Rimpoche explains how, while greater compassion appears counter-intuitive from ego’s perspective, it is the fuel enabling us to cross the great ocean of suffering once and for all.

11. Ethics in the Modern World
What is ethical behavior in the modern world? Are violence and racism ever justified? Is cloning ethical?

Gelek Rimpoche explores today’s confusing territory and offers a simple rubric: judge your own behavior rather than the behavior of others. To follow Buddha’s ethics, we keep our vows and commitments and avoid all harm towards self and others.

12. Utilizing Your Present Situation for Practice
The spiritual path is concerned with lasting satisfaction rather than temporary material gain or happiness. The life we have today can bring about that goal by relying on loving attention and understanding how karma functions.

Gelek Rimpoche reminds us that negative mind states are always impermanent and can be overcome and eliminated, making room to identify with mind’s purity and clarity, our true nature.

13. How to Contemplate Spiritual Topics 1
Everything can be put to use on the spiritual path. Correct motivation can change our thoughts, words and deeds into beneficial practices.

Gelek Rimpoche discusses the first two of seven ways to help ourselves on the path.

1). Appreciating our spiritual teacher’s qualities creates the inspiration to model ourselves similarly.

2). Offerings counteract impulses of greed and clinging while also developing generosity and the spirit of abundance.

14. How to Contemplate Spiritual Topics 2
Gelek Rimpoche outlines the remaining basic daily practices for spiritual practitioners, which include:

3) Four invaluable steps to purify negativity and ensuing results. Sincere regret is one of them, guilt is not.

4) Rejoicing in the good fortune of others, we eliminate jealousy and increase our own fortune.

7) Dedicating our efforts towards fulfilling our goal assures us that they will not go to waste.

15. Good Life Good Death
Rich in opportunities to understand life now, it behooves us to contemplate death, genuinely seeing it is certain to come and with uncertain timing. A peaceful positive death, and what follows death, will depend on how we live our life.

Gelek Rimpoche shares the dissolution of the elements at the time of death and that knowing what to expect will help to lessen our fear and regret when the time comes.

16. Managing Your Spiritual Life
Spiritual techniques are only helpful when put to use; the path is not instantaneous nor is it simple.

Gelek Rimpoche points out that we must be diligent in our practice and frequently reflect, both on our methods and the nature of our own minds, if we hope to overcome negative emotions. To see where we are on our path, we can review three levels of development: the desire to free ourself from the suffering of this life; to free ourself from the suffering of future lives; and the desire to help others to do the same.