Why are you here on planet Earth, here in this body? Is there a desire for awakening?
Are you seeking a place where the consciousness is clear, radiant and quiet? Are you desiring a mind that is blissful and spacious at all times? We call that the desire to awaken, your bodhicitta.
The Desire to Awaken: Bodhicitta
The altruistic thought, called the bodhisattva vow is based on bodhicitta, the desire to awaken.
Like in the film Groundhog Day (a great Dharma movie) we are living the same day over and over again in more or less the same states over and over again. Aspiration and will is fundamental to move out of this repetitive cycle of conditioning, Samsara.
The mind that wants to be clear and awakened has to get free of the repetitive nature of our habitual states of mind. Aspiration is a key factor.
Aspiration: What am I Doing Here?
For awakening, you need to know what you’re doing and why you’re doing it. “What am I doing here? Am I here just to make a living and to have kids? Just to run a business?”.
What is your aspiration?
Your bodhisattva aspiration could be “I aspire to awaken for the sake of all sentient beings”. That’s a fine aspiration.
It could also be “I want to know a good state. I want to know peace on Earth. I want to know love for humanity, I want to feel love for all beings”. And so on.
Feel your Aspiration Physically
Once you have found your aspiration, your reason for being here, let that aspiration pervade your body so you feel it physically. Really feel the aspiration like a physical event.
If your aspiration is peace on Earth, ask, what does peace feel like in the body? If you are meditating on peace for humanity, then what does that peace feel like viscerally, physically?
Explore the question – cellularly, how do the cells get to be at peace?
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Doug Duncan & Catherine Pawasarat are modern day teachers of transcendence. Their work with students draws upon Buddhist, Western Mysteries, modern psychology and other traditions.
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