Spring 2021 Letter from Elizabeth: Living Dharma
When we explore the life of the Buddha, we find him in fierce pursuit of what it means to be human. The spirit of the Buddha’s approach inspires me. He didn’t get hung up on dogmas or fall into doubt. Instead he engaged life with fierceness, creativity and honesty. As a practitioner, student and teacher I continue to train in and explore that quality of inquisitiveness in myself, and I utterly cherish it in others.
As I bump up against my own challenges, and as I look at the world around me, I find meaningful themes to explore. This year, the topic of lineage keeps popping up, and I have begun to explore that subject in both my teachings and podcasts. So many questions have arisen: What is the true purpose of lineage and how do we make it a living experience? How do we benefit from the traditional forms and teachings of a lineage, while respecting and trusting our own discernment? What is the relationship between the timeless wisdom of a tradition and the dynamic nature of culture? I look forward to sharing with you the creative expression of my inquiry over the months to come.
Another topic I want to explore is magic. By “magic” I am not referring to a pull-a-rabbit-out-of-a-hat kind of magic, or something trippy. By magic, I mean the depth that we experience when we step out of our ordinary fixated way of seeing the world, into a world of nuance and creativity. This kind of experience has nothing to do with leaving one place and entering into another. It is not geographical in that way. Neither does magic have anything to do with living around uncomfortable experiences. Magic requires more bravery than that! Magic, in the context of the dharma, has to do with what we encounter when we can bear to stay open in the midst of a crises; when overcome by beauty; or while struggling with something we don’t understand. Only then do we begin to see possibilities we never knew existed.
At the end of May I will be teaching on the 6 perfections, or paramitas. I usually focus on the perfection of wisdom - the 6th perfection, but this time I want to look at the first 5 (generosity, discipline, patience, diligence, and concentration) in more depth. The relative world - the world of interdependent relationships - is powerful and amazing. To bring deliberation and savvy into the realm of relationship presents us with a creative challenge. How can we use our body, speech and mind to create grace with our world? The 6 trainings help guide us in this direction.
When we commit ourselves to open questioning, things get pretty lively. I look forward to engaging this process with you in the months to come!
Learn more about the Six Paramitas program >>
Sending love and best wishes to all,
Elizabeth