The New Year Cycle

The focus of study with Za Choje Rinpoche in 2011 is on Vajrasattva.

Personally, I think that its strange that the new year should begin a few days after the winter solstice. It just makes more sense picking a cosmological phenomenon than an arbitrary date picked by some committee. Don't get me started on Daylight Savings, either. What a strange construct time is! Which is why this post is a few weeks out into the new year.

The start of the new year means various rituals and practices to enhance prosperity and positive energy, like cooking a large pot of black-eyed peas or make resolutions to shape behaviors. Most people will take up an exercise routine and dietary restrictions to lose weight and feel better about themselves.

So, what if this year people concentrated on feeling better about their mental well-being instead? Could developing a better sense of bodhicitta bring about weight loss and an improved appearance? What about purification practices like Vajrasattva and the Four Opponent Powers? What if one made a resolution for purification instead of a gym-membership?

Of course, any practitioner will tell you that the purification would lead to greater benefits over many lifetimes. Purifying the subtle causes in our minds would lead to the development of better habits. With the stable foundations for improving one's life in place, adopting a spiritual practice could be the trick to actually keeping New Years resolutions.

Often we overlook just how powerful the mind is. Sometimes we blame external sources for our failures. Even our successes we attribute to external sources, like to the influence of some celebrity or musician. They are not responsible for your accomplishments, good or bad. Once you take responsibility for the results of your actions, you gain control over your life.

You are in control.

Make New Years resolutions for the benefit of all sentient beings, thereby taking the focus off your negative qualities and instead, emphasize the excellent stainless qualities of the enlightened nature of your own mind.

Namo Buddha!