Words from Lama Zopa

I just got back from sneaking in (well, sort of sneaking in) to listen to a lecture by Lama Zopa Rinpoche. He is in Black Mountain for the 2nd of 5 yearly installments of a Light of the Path retreat. My mom, dad, and I were lucky enough to meet him last year through Geshe Gelek when my mom was going through treatment for cancer. I wanted to share something from the night...

Rinpoche's lecture further made me believe that what we are doing with Urban Dharma is something that people really need. He spoke in depth about bringing meditation into everyday life... to meditate on emptiness or on bodhicitta as we walk, drive the car, or are even at work! All day long we can be partially in meditation; you can talk in a meeting but also be meditating on emptiness, seeing everything as a hallucination or illusion. When we walk, we can imagine we are circumambulating holy objects and texts and stupas. Then, when good and bad things happen, it doesn't affect your mind, and things don't bring you up and down. There it is again - this intertwining of everyday life with the dharma... He also said how beneficial it is to make holy objects, and this made me think of the center - he said that when you make holy objects or stupas, you are directing your life toward enlightenment. Once a holy object (or, let's say, an urban practice center?) is built, no matter where you are - and you could be anywhere - you are liberating sentient beings. How amazing is that?

Anyway, the teaching made me even more excited about getting this off the ground. It feels more and more like the fruit is ripe for the picking.