Warrior

HARD LIGHT CENTER OF AWAKENING

Excerpt of a talk by Mark Griffin...

In spiritual life you are a warrior. You will become capable of placing your attention on any subject, even if it's painful, fearful, threatening or dangerous. This is a form of attention that all warriors must become trained in, because they must be able to place themselves intelligently into the proximity of danger, death, and injury, and yet keep their mind very clear and do what needs to be done.



This is why people are drawn to the life of a warrior; they love the challenge of being able to express uninterrupted attention in the face of the most terrifying situations. As a spiritual warrior, you will be called upon to face extremely intense situations; these will come in the form of information, knowledge and truth about yourself, about others, and about the world. You have to awaken to the fact that you are surrounded by universal suffering.

Karma

HARD LIGHT CENTER OF AWAKENING

Excerpt of a talk by Mark Griffin...

You can carry issues with you for years and years that you don't address. Because of fear, aversion, or afflictive emotions, every time you touched a difficult subject the mind was interrupted. And now suddenly you're old, and still you haven't addressed it. Then you die without having addressed it, and this just means that you'll have to reincarnate to deal with it.



Sooner or later, all these issues will have to be dealt with. They are the rocks, roots, weeds, and tree trunks that you'll most certainly run across as you plow the field of your life. Where do you get the energy to offset the obstacles in your life, to give you the courage so you can address these difficult areas? By giving rise to love of the enlightened condition, you draw energy from the very center of your being. It is a well of infinite consciousness, and a resource of infinite energy that will give you the power to deal with the problems and issues of your life.

Bodhicitta

HARD LIGHT CENTER OF AWAKENING

Excerpt of a talk by Mark Griffin...

The practice of Bodhicitta is a fundamental part of your daily spiritual training. By giving rise to love of the enlightened condition and sensing the presence of the spontaneously arising enlightened mind at the seat of the heart, you will experience the truth that enlightenment is not something outside of yourself, but exists within you as you.



Bodhicitta is the ultimate power of attraction that draws the infinite points of Self to a single place, encompassing the totality of the human experience in a single gesture. It posits the existence of the human form and its emptiness at the same time, expressing both the conditioned aspects of limited existence and the infinite consciousness of enlightenment.



It is the presence of enlightenment within that pervades all conditioned reality. As you bring your mind, energy, and attention to bear on the Bodhicitta, expressing it consistently, again and again, you establish a karmic connection to the ocean of enlightenment that exists within you.

Attention

HARD LIGHT CENTER OF AWAKENING

Excerpt of a talk by Mark Griffin...

You'll often find that when you bring your mind to bear on a particular topic, perhaps studying some painful part of your life, that in some uncontrollable way your attention is interrupted; the mind jumps and skips the subject. You'll think, "What was I thinking about?"; and you can't remember.



This is just how the mind works, and as dharma practitioners you must become accustomed to it. Ultimately, the mind is a machine and it can be trained to do anything. You must learn to recognize the interruption of attention and forcibly bring your mind back to the subject. This is the only way that you'll begin to see all the reasons why you didn't want to address the subject. This is how you process through a problem or an issue.

Nature of Attachment

HARD LIGHT CENTER OF AWAKENING

Excerpt of a talk by Mark Griffin...

Look around at the objects in your house, in your life. Look inside your closets. See what's there. Examine the emotional and psychological content of all these things. Is their vibration positive, having come about through generosity or love, or is it negative, having come from an attachment or aversion?



Perhaps many of your clothes are an attachment to an identity you seek to maintain, a way you thought of yourself at one point in your life, but which doesn't represent you now. You may not have worn many of your clothes in a long time, but they remind you of a good period in your life, and you don't want to give them up. So it goes with all your possessions.



It's actually easier to get rid of these things, remove them from your life, and clear up that psychic space; because you're connected to them, and even though you don't recognize it consciously, the connection holds you in the grip of all of those emotional states from the past.

Nature of Attachment

HARD LIGHT CENTER OF AWAKENING

Excerpt of a talk by Mark Griffin...

The poisons of attachment, aversion, and delusion produce an endless stream of negative behavior. The karma generated by this behavior is like an enshrouding blanket of negativity, making it impossible to see the truth of a given situation.



What was your thinking like the last time you felt anger, jealousy, envy, greed? What were you like when you were under their spell? You always ended up acting like some kind of demon. And afterwards, what did you feel? You felt shame, you felt guilt. And now you had to carry that around. Nothing is furthered by this kind of negative behavior.



The quality of love, all the higher angels of behavior, draws you into life with incredible force, and you see clearly. Your life becomes fantasy-free; you no longer live in some kind of fairy tale. You see the truth of things as they are.

Moving to a Condition of Clarity and Awakening

HARD LIGHT CENTER OF AWAKENING

Excerpt of a talk by Mark Griffin...

All negative thoughts, emotions, and behavior arise from one of three states: attachment, aversion, or delusion. Attachment is grasping, aversion is a form of fear, and delusion is a form of ignorance. These three dynamics define the separation between oneself and all others.



All the higher angels of behavior have as their essence love: the infinite power of attraction; the inclusion of oneself and all others into one's own identity. Any act of kindness, generosity, patience, compassion, or humility leads to the dissolution of the barrier of the false identity that separates us.



Over time, as you include these positive angels of behavior within yourself, and eliminate the poisons of attachment, aversion, and delusion, you will move from a condition of madness and insanity, to a condition of clarity and awakening.