05/07/2022
Consider a sporting event like the Olympics. We can see how those athletes train; their whole lives are totally dedicated to their sport. It regulates them -- when they get up, when they go to sleep, their diet, their exercise, even their relationships. They will give up anything and everything for the sake of winning a little medal. And yet, if people who think that they want to get enlightened are asked if they could manage to get up half an hour earlier in the morning to meditate, they say it is too difficult! The greatest prize in the world is freedom of mind. And yet, how little we are prepared to give in order to attain that greatest of all goals.
Even if we win an Olympic medal, it would only bring a few days of glory. After that, what then ? What do we do next? But complete freedom of mind is forever. When we ourselves see clearly, when we ourselves know, if we can tame our own untamed minds, then we will be able to benefit others. Well, we’d all like that, but not with too much effort! We are all waiting for the perfect guru to turn up and just say the perfect word, click his fingers and we instantly get enlightened without any effort!
Therefore we have to open ourselves to a real commitment to the spiritual path. We are putting the spiritual path at the centre of our life and not at the periphery, and so we undertake to keep the basic general ethical principles and try to incorporate as many as possible of the spiritual practices into our life. That’s what taking refuge is about. - Jetsunma Tenzin Palmo
Photo by Olivier Adam
