Make an island for yourself!
Work quickly! Be wise!
With impurities all blown away,
unblemished,
you won't again undergo birth
& aging.

-Dhammapada, 18, tranlsated by Thanissaro Bhikkhu.

first light

first light
Originally uploaded by littlelakey.

WINDHORSE
(from the Shambhala Training Glossary)

Tibetan: "LUNGTA" Lung: "wind" Ta: "horse". "Invoking Secret Drala is the experience of raising windhorse, ["Ta"]: raising a wind of delight and power and riding on, or conquering, that energy. ... The personal experience of this wind comes as a feeling of being completely and powerfully in the present. The horse aspect is that, in spite of the power of this great wind, you also feel stability. you are never swayed by the confusion of life...excitement or depression. You can ride on the energy of your life. So windhorse includes...practicality and discrimination, a natural sense of skill. This quality is like the four legs of a horse, which make it stable and balanced... you are not riding an ordinary horse, you are riding windhorse." (pg 114)
"Self existing energy." "The 'wind' principle of basic goodness is strong and exuberant and brilliant. It can actually radiate tremendous power in you life. But at the same time, basic goodness can be ridden, which is the principle of the 'horse'. By following the disciplines of warriorship, particularly the discipline of letting go, you can harness the wind of goodness. In some sense the horse is never tamed - basic goodness never becomes your personal possession. But, you can invoke and promote the uplifted energy of basic goodness in you life. You begin to see how you can create basic goodness for yourself and others on the spot, fully and ideally, not only on a philosophical level, but on a concrete physical level. When you contact the energy of windhorse, you can naturally let go of worrying about your own state of mind and you can begin to think of others. Windhorse Windhorse "Lungta"
...Experiencing the upliftedness of the world is a joyous situation, bit also brings sadness ...It is like falling in love...you feel both joy and sorrow...The warrior who experiences windhorse feels the joy and sorrow of love in everything he does." (pg 84-85)

"From the echo of meditative awareness you develop a sense of balance, which is a step toward taking command of your world. you feel that you are riding in the saddle, riding the fickle horse of mind. Even though the horse underneath you may move, you can still maintain your seat. As long as you have good posture in the saddle, you can overcome any startling or unexpected moves. And wherever you slip because you have a bad seat, you simply regain your posture; you don't fall off the horse. In the process of losing your awareness, you regain it because of the process of losing it. slipping in itself, corrects itself. You begin to feel highly skilled, highly trained." (pg 109-110). "The principle of meditative awareness...gives you a good seat on this earth..." "You are completely grounded in reality. One may say, 'How do I know that you are not over reacting to situations?' You can say, simply, 'My posture in the saddle speaks for itself.' At this point you begin to begin to experience the fundamental notion of fearlessness." (See also "Bowing")