How to Become a Spiritual Rebel
Part Two - The Spiritual Warrior, and the Mind Training Commitments
Ondy Willson · 98 minutes · recorded October 26, 2024
The spiritual warrior is on an inner crusade, not one aimed at anybody else. The tantric view that we are already enlightened and held back by a small idea of ourselves, a long visualisation that breaks the rock of ego around Buddha nature, fear as the thing that blocks courage, and the commitments of the seven point mind training read through and argued over.
The spiritual warrior turns out to be on an inner crusade, not one aimed at anybody else. Ondy Willson sets out the tantric view that we are already enlightened beings held back by a self-limiting idea of ourselves, the faster and riskier vehicle beside the gradual path of examining one's faults over many lifetimes. Against it she puts the Western inheritance of low self-worth, and why affirmations in the mirror last about ten minutes. A guided visualisation of about twenty minutes builds up an image of oneself a couple of metres ahead, life size and vibrant, in the place that is most nourishing, with the beings being helped brought in around it until the whole picture moves like a film. That figure then floats above the head, fills with light and rains down through the crown, breaking the rock of ego around Buddha nature and dissolving at the heart. What the warrior has to watch is materialism and hedonism, with the hedonic treadmill as the example. The image of Manjushri is read for its symbolism, the lotus risen through mud, sun and moon for wisdom and compassion, the flaming sword that cuts ignorance rather than people. Gentleness is named as the essence of strength, and fear as the thing that blocks courage, so the group looks at what is actually afraid: the fear of what others think, of being misunderstood, and the ego behind both. The commitments of the seven point mind training are read through and discussed in groups. Do not lie in ambush, do not strike a vulnerable point, do not misuse the dharma, purify your greatest delusion first, and give up poisonous food, which is self-cherishing. The group finds the list overwhelming, and the advice back is to choose the one that shouts loudest. Recorded on 26 October 2024, the second of the two workshops.
Anxiety and fear Buddha nature Comparison and self-cherishing Symbolism and iconography Tantra and Vajrayana Lojong (mind training) Visualisation The Seven Point Mind Training