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Himalayas
I study, and try to practice, Vajrayana Buddhism. My main areas of interest are Chod, Kagyu and Nyingma traditions as well as Buddhisms interactions with the West, pop-culture and engaged Buddhism.

Sunday, May 10, 2009

Going in the right direction


Recently I've been thinking a lot about taking robes again. It's been really healthy, relaxed and sort of organic. There is no sense of stressed urgency or it being something I 'ought' to do.

I have no obligations holding me back and it's not like I have a burning desire to get married and have a family. I never have wanted that really, and all my long term relationships have happened accidentally when I wasn't looking.

I asked Gyalwa Karmapa about taking robes back in January last year. His response was that I should think about it after retreat. Retreat will entail temporary ordination so this makes a lot of obvious sense.

On the subject of retreat I'm feeling very relaxed about it. I know it is perfectly possible that I won't be able to do it due to not getting the funds together in time or any number of other things that could become an obstacle. But I'm happily aspiring towards it without a huge ammount of attachment.

One of the things that went very wrong the last time was my practice being pretty much non-existent before going in. Now it's the opposite. It's been very consistent for the last few years so that retreat would seem much less of a shock to the system and in some ways simply an extension of what I do daily.

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