To take refuge in the Buddha is to take refuge in someone who let go of holding back just as you can do. To take refuge in the dharma<\/a> is to take refuge in all the teachings that encourage you and nurture your inherent ability to let go of holding back. And to take refuge in the sangha is to take refuge in the community of people who share this longing to let go and open rather than shield themselves. <\/p>\n
The support that we give each other as practitioners is not the usual kind of samsaric support in which we all join the same team and complain about someone else. It\u2019s more that you\u2019re on your own, completely alone, but it\u2019s helpful to know that there are forty other people who are also going through this all by themselves. That\u2019s very supportive and encouraging. Fundamentally, even though other people can give you support, you do it yourself, and that\u2019s how you grow up in this process, rather than becoming more dependent.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
~ Pema Ch\u00f6dr\u00f6n<\/a><\/p>\n
[After 45 minutes of gorgeous blue skies, just now as the sun climbs over Mount Sentinel to greet me, big gray clouds have swooped in from all directions \u2013 so it seems\u2026. oh\u2026. wait\u2026. here comes a blue patch. I\u2019ll get to say hello after all\u2026 What\u2019s that song? \u201cLet the sun shine!<\/a>\u201c]<\/p>\n
Yet just as the sunshine brings pleasure, it also sets in the hooks of samsara; for every pleasure is lost and if we identify with the pleasure, if we cling to it, we suffer<\/span>. The goal of meditation for me now is to learn to smile at and greet the clouds with the same equanimous knowing<\/span> that I smile at and greet the sun with.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/blogger.googleusercontent.com\/tracker\/7907151-3747079437037064063?l=americanbuddhist.blogspot.com\")
<\/div>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"