In todayand#8217;s FBA Dharmabyte, and#8220;Just Be Friendly,and#8221; we took a sampling from a very forthright and passionate talk by Vajratara, titled and#8220;Chetul Sangye Dorje.and#8221; She may be talking about the great contemporary Tibetan teacher, but her main focus is on the need to practice the Dharma for others as part of a meaningful community. Vajratara argues her case with a balance of down-to-earth humour and uncompromising vision.
Dharmabytes from free buddhist audio
Just Be Friendly
[music] Dharma Bites is brought to you by Free Buddhist Audio, the Dharma for your life. Our work is funded entirely by donations from our generous listeners. If you would like to help us keep this free, make a contribution at freebuddhistaudio.com/donate. Thank you, and happy listening. The second thing is, be friendly even when you can't be happy. So, instead with the Tara practice, the thing about Tara is she's always pleased to see you. That's very nice, isn't it? She's always pleased to see you, no matter what you've done. You know, even no matter what you've done, no matter how you're feeling, she's always pleased to see you, whatever state you're arriving. Which is good, you know, because sometimes I'm just in a really bad mood and I just take it out in Tara. I just think, oh, you, you Bodhisattvas, what, if you were sitting in the blue sky? But she doesn't mind. She's a sauce. She never goes on a bit or like that. She's just always pleased to see you. And this reminds me of a thing that Sangarachita said. He went to this Buddhist conference and there was quite a famous, a very, very famous, Buddhist teacher saying about how, you know, Buddhists should always be happy. And Sangarachita stood up and he said, "Well, you can't always be happy, but you can always be friendly." So I think this relates to the color green with Tara. I think green is a bit like nature. And the thing about nature is that it always grows up through the cracks. It always grows up through the concrete, through the tarmac. It always finds a way, you know, just leave it for a bit and it'll always find a way. And I think what this reminds me of, this is quite a personal reflection, but what it reminds me of is this, that quite often we put these big concrete walls around ourselves. We've got a bit of a fortress, actually. And other people build their own concrete walls, you know, they get to a certain point and then they just shut off. And the thing about Tara and the thing about acting for others is that being friendly means always keeping the lines of communication open. No matter what someone does to you, never shut off from them entirely. Always be open, even if they cut off all communication with you, you never cut off communication with them. You're always open to them. You're always open to being friendly. You know, there are times when that's really difficult. I have this thing where every time, I mean, it's happened to me for what, eleven years, every time I go on a treat, the first evening, I absolutely hate it. I'm in a foul mood. I think everyone hates me. They've all got their own little friends. They all just think I'm a complete plonker. And they're just looking at me, thinking, go away, you're annoying girl. And that's the kind of thing that goes on in my head. So I think, well, I'll just hate you back. So I get in this big, stroking room and then I want to run away and then I want to smoke fast, even though I don't smoke. And I have to say, the ordination doesn't make a blind bit of difference with that. The only thing that makes a difference to me now is I think, don't take it out on others. This is just some mad thing that's going on in your head. Never take it out on others. Always be open to people. Always be friendly to people. Even if you're not happy, even if you're in a foul mood. It's not about you. It's not about your mood. It's about being open to others. It's about that force of nature that just overcomes that separation, those walls that we put up against each other. And there's a kind of life. There's a kind of life force in time. There's that kind of green energy of nature that will just knock through that. That will just sit down next to people and just say, "Hello. My name is Vajatara. How are you?" You know, I'm from Shepil. What's your name ready to come from?" And I think that's really important. I think it's important just to maintain friendliness, no matter what we're feeling. It's very, very important. So, yeah. So be friendly even when you can't be happy. We hope you enjoyed today's Dharma Bite. Please help us keep this free. Make a contribution at freebuddhistaudio.com/donate. And thank you. [music fades out] [music fades out] [music fades out] You [BLANK_AUDIO]