Parvati Magazine Summer 2014 - Freedom and Delight | Page 13

MEDITATION
way to ourselves and to
others.
This is the first work of
the awakening process.
Some people will spend
their whole lives attending
to this level, or think that
is the goal of the search,
to be free of personal suffering. But from a deeper
spiritual perspective, this
is only the beginning. Particularly within Vajrayana,
spiritual search is deemed
suitable only for ‘spiritual
warriors’. The term is not
ill advised, as deeper spiritual work demands that
we open ourselves to all
aspects of the psyche. To
become fully authentic,
we must be willing to face
all of the demons of the
human race and know
that we can accept that
there are parts of ourselves and others that in
certain
circumstances
could become so flawed
that even we, spiritual beings, could inflict horrors
on others. That is why we
must strongly ground the
spiritual journey in wholesome moral conduct,
with compassion leading
the way.

When we truly understand what Buddhists call
‘interdependent arising’
we begin to see the web
that binds us to our planet
and all the creatures and
creation contained within
it. The responsibility of the
Bodhisattva within the
Buddhist philosophy is to
take on the world of suffering for the sake of others. Paradoxically, when
we step across this threshold with a willingness to always help until ‘all beings
have been released from
samsara’, a miracle takes
place. Our own suffering
diminishes, freedom from
negative patterning arises and our inner world as
well as the world around
us becomes a place of
much more freedom.
Here freedom arises from
acceptance of those
bonds, neither running towards them, nor running
away.

alone becomes unnecessary and even unthinkable. Worrying or searching for freedom becomes
irrelevant. What remains
is a person who is malleable, open and responsive,
presenting him/herself as
one ready to help at any
time, place or in any way
that can relieve another’s
suffering.

Participating
with
full
knowledge in the drama
of human existence, we
find ourselves searching
for more and more skillful
ways of helping others.
Awakening for ourselves

copyright © 2014 by Lama Catherine Rathbun

‘Isms’ fall away. One is no
longer engaged in Buddhism or Catholicism or
any other ‘ism’. Religion itself can become a block
to this freedom, especially
if it attempts to present its
‘truth’ as the only truth.
Compassion,
however,
remains outside any religious dogma. It is a message from heart to heart
and hand to hand.
This then is true spirituality,
true freedom.
May all beings be free.

Catherine Rathbun received her traditional teaching name, Lama Jetsun
Yeshe, from Ven. Karma Thinley Rinpoche, a lineage master of the Sakya
and Kagyu traditions of Tibetan Buddhism, in 2002. She taught meditation at
York University (1989 to 1997) and is the founding teacher at Friends of the
Heart, a meditation centre in Toronto. With a background in dance — she
was a member of the National Ballet Company of Canada from 1962 to
1963 — and a modern dance career in England (1967-69). She is the author
of Developing the World Mind and Clear Heart, Open Mind, and is currently
working on a new book called Waiting for Truffles: Meditations for Daily
www.friendsoftheheart.com.
Living. For more on Catherine, please visit www.friendsoftheheart.com.