{"id":1649,"date":"2009-03-24T02:51:45","date_gmt":"2009-03-23T18:51:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/moonpointer.com\/new\/?p=1649"},"modified":"2009-03-25T01:05:00","modified_gmt":"2009-03-24T17:05:00","slug":"just-astonishment-gladness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/moonpointer.com\/new\/2009\/03\/just-astonishment-gladness\/","title":{"rendered":"Just Astonishment &#038; Gladness"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-1650\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/moonpointer.com\/new\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/03\/114-211x300.jpg?resize=211%2C300\" alt=\"\" width=\"211\" height=\"300\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Last Saturday, after giving an almost full day course to guides on guiding in a Buddhist temple, I had about two and a half hours&#8217; break before teaching lesson two of a Pureland class. At first, I was apprehensive of how my voice might be affected, by how tired I might be when it&#8217;s lesson time. However, something wonderfully strange happened (again). It was one of the effective lessons I had ever delivered. The lesson flowed on naturally, with much ease, peppered with relevant jokes that resonated with the class.<\/p>\n<p>Every time an incredibly smooth-sailing Dharma lesson transpires, I would reflect and wonder how it happened. It was as if it wasn&#8217;t the usual me who taught. Was I channeling someone else? Of course not &#8211; especially since I didn&#8217;t feel an external power or being entering me. I was mindful of every sentence spoken, clearly aware, freely interacting with the class. Upon deeper thought, it didn&#8217;t feel like it was &#8216;me&#8217; teaching because there was a much lesser sense of &#8216;me&#8217;, not because it wasn&#8217;t really (conventionally) me.<\/p>\n<p>I was less self-conscious, and thus more purely conscious, with little fixation on the illusion of self. Since it wasn&#8217;t an extraneous entity from without speaking through me, it must be part of my selfless Buddha-nature within shining through? I have no other theory. It&#8217;s really nothing to be proud of, such experiences, because there is no solid &#8216;one&#8217; or &#8216;self&#8217; there and then to feel pride! There is just astonishment and gladness thereafter.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Related Articles:<\/strong><br \/>\nGate Gate Paragate Parasamgate Bodhi Svaha!<br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/moonpointer.com\/new\/2008\/12\/svaha-heart-sutra\">https:\/\/moonpointer.com\/new\/2008\/12\/svaha-heart-sutra<\/a><br \/>\nOnly Say What You Know<br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/moonpointer.com\/new\/2009\/03\/only-say-what-you-know\">https:\/\/moonpointer.com\/new\/2009\/03\/only-say-what-you-know<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Last Saturday, after giving an almost full day course to guides on guiding in a Buddhist temple, I had about&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[126,155,89,197,41,199],"class_list":["post-1649","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-mix","tag-buddha-nature","tag-gratitude","tag-mindfulness","tag-pride","tag-pure-land","tag-self","wpcat-1-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/moonpointer.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1649","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/moonpointer.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/moonpointer.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moonpointer.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moonpointer.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1649"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/moonpointer.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1649\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/moonpointer.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1649"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moonpointer.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1649"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moonpointer.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1649"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}