Planetary Dharma Class - January 30, 2025
Review the Group Contemplation & Listen to song - 15 Minutes
Group Contemplation:
First, we will listen to a song together as a large group. Music as a dharmic tool: As an creative example of Showing the Utilization of Practice in One’s Whole Life, we’ve taken a song, and are using it as a form of healthy projection - to remind ourselves about the Paramita of Exertion. As we listen to the song together mindfully, we can simultaneously read the lyrics; using it as an inspirational reminder to yourself! Let the message sink in.
Then, we you break into your small groups, decide who will report back to the larger group on “what we are uncovering about these topics.”
Next, choose someone - or a group of you - to read the Slogas for Point 4 a & b, and the statement The Five Strengths Revisited aloud. When you are listening pay special attention this week to the fourth power of Reproach/Discernment - or the act of “Self-Coaching”.
Then go to the next section to explore in Group Contemplation questions on “Self-Coaching” through the lens of the songs lyrics. This “coach” is a voice within you. It’s a healthy judge - a healthy coach. Be sure to keep this voice compassionately encouraging.
Review the slogans: point 4 a & b
4 (a) Practice the FIVE STRENGTHS, the condensed heart instructions:
The slogans of Point Four are suggesting a wide reaching approach to our dharmic activities: we are blanketing our entire life with exertion - or perhaps a better translation would be complete application of the dharma or to totally endeavor in the dharma.
4 (b) The Mahayana instruction for the ejection of consciousness at death is the Five Strengths: how you conduct yourself is important.
We will take this slogan up when we discuss Point 4(b), but remember - It takes dharmic application to live properly and it also takes dharmic application to die properly. No matter how much we have studied or how many ideas we may have, without effort and application, our understanding will be superficial, not transformative
2. The Five Strengths revisited
Determination and Intentionality. Rather than moving through each day aimlessly, allow yourself to consciously choose a course for your activities. Set an intention and lovingly guide yourself toward alignment with that direction.
Familiarization. Through consistent engagement with mindful presence and loving-kindness, these practices become second nature. We are so intimately aligned with our intentionality of saturating ourselves in the dharmic endeavors that our activities cease to feel like external projects and instead weave seamlessly into the fabric of our lives, becoming an embodied way of being.
Seeds of Virtue. In the realm of loving-kindness, we continually refine and elevate our practice, honoring our capacity to grow. We embrace wholeheartedness and approach each moment with a full, open-hearted commitment to cultivating Bodhichitta.
Reproach/Discernment. With clarity and courage, we observe the patterns that limit our freedom. We are able to call a spade a spade - and lovingly call ourselves out. We recognize that egoic fixation is at the root of suffering. We bring gentle yet firm awareness to these tendencies, inviting the ego into harmony rather than letting it dominate. This is a form of Self-Coaching and we will spend some time working on this particular aspect of the 5 strengths this week.
Aspiration. At the close of each practice, we reconnect to our deepest longing to serve the collective awakening. We recommit to our path with a heartfelt aspiration to cultivate wisdom, mindfulness, and loving-kindness—not just for ourselves, but for the benefit of all beings, no matter what challenges arise.
This points to the vows of the Bodhisattva:
Sentient beings are numberless; I vow to save them.
Desires are inexhaustible; I vow to put an end to them.
The Dharmas are boundless; I vow to master them.
The Buddha Way is unattainable; I vow to attain it.
3. Listen to “You Got to Go” by Above & Beyond:
Dream on little dreamer [Regard all dharmas as dreams, "Dream and dreamer are one" - Rumi]
And this is how it all begins [Training in the dharma]
Move your feet [dance with the dharma]
Feel how sweet it is [get a sense of how the dharma positively affects your life]
Dream on little dreamer [Regard all dharmas as dreams, "Dream and dreamer are one" - Rumi]
Follow all of your signs [both the patterns of the ego we observe and also the magical synchronistic aspect of your life]
You got to gather up what you need [tools of the bodhisattva - cultivate bodhichitta]
You got to choose a direction [practice exertion / application /blanket your life in the dharma]
And when the moment is right for you [Now!]
You got to go [You got to go for it - practice the Five Strengths!]
You gotta keep your ideals high [Aspiration! Practice the Eightfold path]
You got to know that the sky belongs to no one [this is not personal - self-liberate even the antidote]
Ya know you got to go [go for it everyday. in everyday life]
You got to gather up what you need [tools of the bodhisattva - cultivate bodhichitta]
You got to choose a direction [practice exertion / application /blanket your life in the dharma]
And when the moment is right for you [Now!]
You got to go [You got to go for it - practice the Five Strengths!]
You gotta keep your ideals high [Aspiration! Practice the Eightfold path]
You got to know that the sky belongs to no one [this is not personal - self-liberate even the antidote]
Ya know you got to go [go for it everyday. in everyday life]
Keep on little dreamer [Regard all dharmas as dreams, "Dream and dreamer are one" - Rumi]
Keep hold of all that you are [Examine the nature of unborn awareness]
You got to gather up what you need [tools of the bodhisattva - cultivate bodhichitta]
You got to choose a direction [practice exertion / application /blanket your life in the dharma]
And when the moment is right for you [Now!]
You got to go [You got to go for it - practice the Five Strengths!]
You gotta keep your ideals high [Aspiration! Practice the Eightfold path]
You got to know that the sky belongs to no one [this is not personal - self-liberate even the antidote]
Ya know you got to go [go for it everyday. in everyday life]