Jennifer Cornbleet

I just learned about Jennifer Cornbleet's site and really liked it. I can't wait to try the Zucchini Pasta with Marinara Sauce. It looks so good.  I watched several of her videos and like her calmness, how she explains why she does what she does and ideas she has such as saving the parts of the vegetables you don't use for the dish for either a soup or juice. You can also see more of her videos on Youtube. 

She demonstrates a variety of recipes from Kale Salad, Garden Vegetable Soup, Not Tuna Paté to Chocolate Mousse. From what I see, all recipes take less than 10 minutes to prepare. I also like how she explains and shows knife techniques, something I would love to improve upon. You can really see that in her video on California Rolls.

Her book is now on my list of other raw food books to buy once I make it back to the States. For the time being, I can use what I learn from her in my kitchen tonight.

"The rest of the world lives to eat, while I eat to live."
Socrates

"It's bizarre that the produce manager is more important to my children's health than the pediatrician."
Meryl Streep  

Six Perfections: More on Generosity

I decided to review the Six Perfections, but this time with a Christian tilt. 

The first of the Six Perfections is Generosity.  Ignatius even wrote a prayer for Generosity. So far, it's the only prayer I have found regarding this subject. I'm sure there are more. If you know of one, I would love to read it.

Lord, teach me to be generous.
Teach me to serve you as you deserve;
    to give and not to count the cost,
    to fight and not to heed the wounds,
    to toil and not to seek for rest,
    to labor and not to ask for reward,
    save that of knowing that I do your will.

For most of us, we have some kind of motive when we give such as giving to charities to for a tax break. According to an article on inner frontier, "true generosity… involves giving to others beyond what is required of us, and that outstrips any self-centered motives we might harbor in the process."  I don't know about  you, but I find this difficult to do.  Here's where the list of the types of mind to be abandon come into play: wrong view, pride, dependence, discouragement, partiality, self-interest (a huge obsession for most of us), fear, and maliciousness. These are explained in a previous post.   

Generosity is not only the giving of things, but also our time, listening to someone who is in need of being heard, to helping at a soup kitchen, to volunteer at a hospital or hospice or many other such organizations. All this will be done with the fourth perfection: joyous effort.

How many of us can give something and not think about  how much it cost us?
How many of us can fight for something and not take inventory of our wounds?
How many of us can work with joyous effort without needing rest? Not me. If I'm tired, I want to rest.
How many of us can work, again with joyous effort, and not ask for something in return?

As Ignatius' prayer suggests, this is not easy without the help of a Higher Power and great faith.


You have to give it away in order to keep it.

Just for today I will exercise my soul in three ways: I will do somebody a good turn, and not get found out; if anybody knows of it, it will not count. I will do at least two things I don't want to do just for exercise. I will not show anyone that my feelings are hurt; they may be hurt, but today I will not show it.

This weeks favorite salad dressing

I just gotta share my favorite salad dressing of the week.

1 yellow bell pepper, chopped
1/2 cucumber, peeled and chopped
salt to taste
1-3 tsps. olive oil (Personally, I like only a teaspoon, but you might want more)
1 tsp. basil

Blend in blender until smooth.

I admit, I don't like lots of spices anymore. You could add garlic, pepper and other spices, some lemon juice or vinegar if you like.  I've been eating raw food for almost 7 years and my taste buds don't really care for too many spices.  So for me, this tastes wonderful.

I like it with romaine lettuce, black olives, sliced cucumbers, thin slices of red cabbage, and avocado.

Hope you like it.  Please let me know what you think.  I would love to hear from you.

Courage is the ability to change the familiar.

So often times it happens that we live our lives in chains and we never even know we have the key. 

Judith's dharma talks

I'm listening to Judith Ragir's Dharma lectures again. I first listened to them about two to three years ago. It took me about a year to listen to all of them. This time, because I know more about Buddhism, I'm catching more of what she says.

Today, I listened to her lecture on Practicing in all Circumstances from her 7-28-06 lecture.  Her main theme was about pivoting. When you find yourself in a habituated pattern, you pivot to the "now," trusting the teaching. For example, when I get caught up in one of my 1000s of fantasies, I pivot to the "now." I'm either listening to a lecture, typing, washing dishes, sweeping the floor. Whatever I'm doing, Judith says, stay with the "now" and practice realization.

The practice of realization is important. If we stay in the moment we are able to hold the moment in a vast way. It's the truth of impermanence, the ups and owns of life, that we are a grain of sand on the beach. We are one star in a countless number of stars. In this perspective, our storyline becomes smaller. Judith says that is enlightenment.

Pivoting is the practice of returning to the moment and realizing the universal perspective is in each moment. Judith mentions that we are training ourselves with repetition, in the same manner we would train a dog. We do the training moment by moment, in the now.

Each moment is an opportunity to pivot and make changes. Every event when we catch ourselves in an old pattern, we have a opening for pivoting toward change.

What do we do with the moments we don't like? Judith says to work with uncomfortableness. Turn towards the uncomfortable parts of life. Be more interested in awareness and the activity at the moment than building a comfortable nest and being in denial about uncomfortable place.  This is difficult for me when I hear an insult. I feel uncomfortable, even angry, but I'm supposed to pivot to the moment.  Hmmmm.  The Dalai Lama teaches to be compassionate at these moments.  Guess this will take much practice.

She also teaches us to turn compassion toward the fear and emotion. Then those fears become a doorway to enlightenment. It's freeing because we interrupt the storyline and remembering it's only the present moment, not what happened 30 years ago.  The promos is, as I develop my capacity to trust, then I'm able to go through the situation with more ease.

For her, "returning to the moment is a refuge, a release. You can't do it unless you trust that something larger than you is taking care of things."

We are to bring our habituated pattern to the forefront once we notice it. We are to practice pivoting daily. I've been working on this for some time. Right now, I'm releasing all fear.  When I find myself fearful, I trust, have faith, and remember that God is with me. I can bring in all that fear with the black smoke of tonglen, and release it with the image of the moonlight of compassion to myself and to all people who suffer from fear.

Another point Judith makes is it's none of my business how things turn out. That's taking refuge in the Buddha, in the teaching.  That's trusting in a Higher Power, God, Alla,  the Dharma, the Universe, or whatever you choose to call it.


"What you plant in the present moment is what you will receive in the future. It causes you to discern  what is wholesome and what is non-wholesome."
--Judith Ragir

Abide without praising, with the mind inwardly at peace.

May I avoiding both the repulsive and unrepulsive abiding with equanimity, mindful and fully aware.

 At first the eyes ears nose tongue and body cause suffering but then they become the seeing of the miracle of the garden of suchness.

Attitude of Gratitude

 
The Dalai Lama writes in his book The Art of Happiness to be grateful for your enemies. Firstly, whom do we consider as our enemies? According to my computer's dictionary, "an enemy is someone who is actively opposed or hostile to someone or something."  I can take this to mean someone we may love such as my husband or mother.

I know I would have been very upset and confused by these instructions had I gotten them 6 years ago.  When I was going through my bad times of depression and misery, I saw my mother and my husband as my combatants, my adversaries.  No matter how hard I tried to change to fit into the mold in which they wanted to shape me, I couldn't do it without part of me dying.  When I was tired of dying (in truth I was actually ready to literally die), I fought to be on my current path without knowing where I was heading. My true self was battling to become free. My inner spirit no longer wanted to flounder with confusion and pain; it no longer wanted to be stifled; it wanted to be released and respected for who it was. Therefore, I was reborn, but not without conflict from my perceived enemies.

I first heard of "Attitude of Gratitude" in recovery.  Now I hear it in Buddhism.  "Be thankful for your enemies. They are your greatest teachers." The Dalai Lama says to use each "encounter as an opportunity to enhance one's practice of patience and tolerance." I have learned in recovery, too. 

"The enemy is the necessary condition for practicing patience. Without an enemy's action, there is no possibility for patience or tolerance to arise." What I know is by practicing my recovery program, I learn more compassion toward others; I learn about accepting people for who they are because I can't change them, I can only change myself. As I focus on my own spiritual growth and healing, those around me also seemed to heal to a point. They no longer fight with me as before. Nor do I fight with them.

"So when you come across such a chance for practicing patience and tolerance, you should treat it with gratitude."  With daily practice, I am able to do this more often. When I see times of conflict, I can think of it more often that before as an occasion to see the person with compassion and send to him/her loving kindness.  I am also better at accepting the person for who he or she is.


Attitudes are contagious.  Is yours worth catching?

Look back and be grateful,
    look ahead and be hopeful,
    look around and be helpful.

The Three Lazinesses & The Three Confidences

In reading from The Six Perfections Part 1, I saw that there are The Three Lazinesses which are opponents of perseverance. I am a pretty lazy person. I can sit in front of the TV and do sudoku all night. It doesn't matter what else needs to be done: washing dishes, sweeping, exercising, sewing, ironing, fixing something, whatever.  I would rather just sit on the couch playing sudoku.

The Three Lazinesses are good reminders to help me get up and take action.

1. The Laziness of Putting off Dharma.  I do study the dharma daily. So this isn't a problem for me. I love reading and learning about it. I would like to hone in on one thing rather than all the aspects of it that I'm learning. That is why I'm focusing on the 6 Perfections right now. 

2. The Laziness Arising from Attachment. I'm still attached to some worldly pleasures.  I know I can't take them with me when I cross over. These are things that I realize I will lose at some point and will give up. I'm just not ready to give them all up yet.

3. The Laziness of Discouragement.   I lived most of my life feeling discouraged.  Since being in recovery I found encouragement. I found a support system I never dreamed I would have.  However, once in a while, something will trigger those old feelings of discouragement. I try to be vigilant in watching out for them.  I try to live one moment at a time in hopes to continue on my path of healing, serenity and joy.

The article discusses how discouragement keeps us from living the practices.  I'm not discouraged at all. I'm encouraged as I learn more. If I want enlightenment, I got to do what they did to get it; I gotta learn what they know to get it. I'm not concerned how many lifetimes it will take. As long as I practice one day at a time, I will get there.

Feeling discouraged only results in loss and doesn't bring benefit for gaining liberation.
---The Buddha

***
The Three Confidences

These are the three prides of Confidences which the article suggests we meditate on.

1. The Confidence of Action. "Thinking of achieving the path by ourselves alone without depending on any helper." This is the  pride of thinking we can achieve this on our own. On the other hand, we must not be proud, so it sounds like a fine line to me. Can anyone enlighten me on this?

Liberation depends on oneself—there is no such thing as another helping in this.
--Nagarjuna

2. The Confidence of Capability. "We should practice by thinking, 'I am capable of achieving the purpose of myself and others.'"

3. The Confidence of Delusion.  Here we are to discourage negative thoughts and delusions by avoiding them and not letting them win us over. "If we have this pride then even the great opponents, non-virtuous actions and delusions, cannot hinder us. Therefore, it is necessary to gain such confidence."

By gaining confidence with perseverance, it is difficult to be controlled by great opponents. If the mind is firm, the moral falls are prevented.
---Nagarjuna

New Beginning Cleanse

I signed up for the New Beginning Cleanse and just listened to the replays for the first two talks.  The first was about diet improvements.  The second was about cleansing your fears.  There's lost of good information in both interviews.  There'll be a different interview each night this week.  Hope you can join them or at least listen to the replays. The replays, btw, will only be up for a couple of weeks.

Enjoy!