Apr 07

The Great Way with Kyabje Kalu Rinpoche (Part 7)

And then over the time, when you have the devotion, so the meaning of the devotion is not a, many people when they think about, when they join the Buddhism or Buddhist, you know, group or the Buddhist organization, they believe that, you know, like the “devotion is needed”, “devotion is obligation, obligated and we must implement devotion in our spiritual journey”.

But the reality of the devotion is just like the compassion, it is not, it is not an emotion that you can make up in your mind, just because somebody told you to have it, you know? Devotion needs to develop, based on how you reflect the meaning of suffering. The more you see the reality of the suffering, you know, the more clarity, you know, appears in your mind. As more clarity appears in your mind and then, over the time, you know, recognition to “what is genuine” and “what is not genuine”, that sense of wisdom will start to awaken in your state of mind.

So therefore, devotion is not simply about praying, devotion is simply experiencing in a state of mind that is being in a state of joyful, awareness and joyful inseparably together, and rejoicing the teachings of the Lord Buddha, you know? So that is the meaning of, of the devotion.

Devotion has nothing to do with crying and, you know, you know, jumping over the cliff or doing something nonsense, you know? It has nothing to do with that, you know? Devotion is basically, you know, the very state of the mind is in a state of the clarity, in a state of sense of pure joy and awareness of everything. And that is the meaning of devotion, you know?

Devotion is not closing your eyes and putting your head onto the Buddha statue. I mean that, that is nice in the beginning, you know? But eventually, the devotion is also not something just repeating things, such as text, you know? So I think that is very important.

And the devotion is not something that Buddha requires. Your guru does not require your devotion. Any guru who says that “I need your devotion, you need to have a devotion to the guru”, you are in the wrong place, I can guarantee it, you know? So the genuine gurus or the genuine practitioners they will never tell the student that “You need to have a devotion to your guru”, you know? That is not the responsibility of the spiritual figure. That is the responsibility of the, the practitioner themself, you know?

So, so therefore, if you are forced to have a devotion or obligated to have a devotion then you are not in the right place. So therefore, understanding about the devotion has to deepen over the time, based on the practice, you know?

So like I said, the devotion is not something the Buddha requires, it is not something that your guru requires, it is not something that your, know you, Dharma requires. It doesn’t, you know? So the devotion is basically a state of mind that is creating an absent from the all fixation, you know? So the more you create a space and absent from the fixation and illusion of the fixation and then the more clarity arises by itself, you know?

 

The Great Way with Kyabje Kalu Rinpoche (31′ 13″)
Zoom Meeting – November 24, 2021

To be continued …