eckhart tolle

Be the Buddha

LahLah’s thoughts on the mat this week: Be the Buddha!

This week in class we’re going to examine what we bring to the mat (and daily life!) with us, in terms of expectations, desires and attachments and look at if they are helpful or not. Do we need them? Or can we let them go and be present in what actually is? Can we be curious about our practice and about our lives and how they actually are rather than just living how we think they are? Can we do things just for the joy of being rather than for the outcomes or expectations of doing them?

This weeks theme was inspired by Eckhart Tolle’s poem “Be the Buddha”:

All cravings are the ming seeking salvation

Or fulfillment in external things and in the future

As a substitute for the joy of Being.

As long as I am my mind,

I am those cravings,

Those needs, those wants, attachments, and aversions,

And apart from there there is no “I'“

Except as a mere possibility, an unfulfilled potential,

A seed that has not yet sprouted.

In that state,

Even my desire to become free or enlightened

Is just another craving for fulfillment or completion in the future.

So don’t seek to become free of desire or achieve enlightenment.

Become present.

Be there as the observer of the mind.

Instead of quoting the Buddha, be the Buddha,

Be the “awakened one,” which is what the word buddha means.

Look forward to exploring this theme on the mat with you this week, if you want to join me you can at Little Peace, Altromondo & Yoga Shakti . Also check out bookretreats.com for self-discovery retreats.

Until then can you find the joy of being?