Don’t let obstacles win
Dear everyone,
Please read this carefully a few times and contemplate. We should never be controlled by our emotions or act out of them as it’s illusory. We should never just give up and let obstacles win. How to overcome them? Read below. I repeat, contemplate them deeply and discuss it with each other.
Tsem Rinpoche
Very Ven. Khenpo Karthar, abbot of Karma Triyana Dharmachakra, Woodstock, NY:
“There is not any event that under all circumstances is an obstacle. During your life, sometimes a test situation may arise because of your meditation. If you lack understanding and meditative insight, this test could become an obstacle. However if you have enough insight and understanding, the test could heighten your realization to a great extent. As an outcome of meditative experience, whatever appearances may arise can be transformed through meditative insight into a realization of the nature of all things as insubstantial, uncompounded, and only existing interdependently. Then we do not reject the appearances of existing things, but nevertheless none of these things hold the truth of independence or the truth of substantiality. They are just another play of illusion.
If a person understands and relates in this way, whatever drama appears in meditation could be tremendously uplifting. On the other hand, when you are meditating you may get drawn into whatever arises out of your habitual and emotional conditioning. The appearance may just be your psychological patterns, but for you it is a spirit, it is demonic, and it is real. You will probably be afraid and try to defend yourself. That is not the strategy we adopt in the path of meditation, though.
For instance, when Milarepa was in a particular cave and the so called demons appeared, roaring and thundering toward him, Milarepa said, “Your appearance is most wondrous, and your message is the message of my teacher.” He worked with it in that way. The demon of your confusion does not cling to you; you cling to it. From that point of view, such an event becomes a kind of special treat and a technique that brings more enrichment than the ordinary process. What is really important is how a person is able to work with what happens, so strictly speaking, these neither are obstacles or are not obstacles.”
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Obstacles are what happen to us when we’re making other plans. We all have gone through hardship in our lives at some point and almost on a daily basis we have to overcome obstacles. I mean they tend to happen unexpectedly.
When dealing with life struggles, the important thing is to take care of ourselves physically and emotionally. The difficult times that we experience to handle a problem can open up mind to alternative ideas and solutions. What I’ve found is that everyone reacts differently during difficult times. Some better than others. Having the hard conversation or facing reality is nothing anyone wants to do.
While the pandemic is a challenge, it is also an opportunity to pray, meditate and to recite mantras to clear any obstacles that arise. Many were able to emerge
out of the crisis stronger and able to overcome similar challenges in the future. The coronavirus crisis has not made the world unpredictable. It has only taught us how uncertain and unpredictable life is.
Thank you for the sharing.
https://bit.ly/3I4qGsP
We have anger, failures , disappointment, attachments, and so forth yet never let whatever obstacles along the way to win. Nor matter what we strive even more harder and take full responsibility in our work. Its all about how we handle the situation. I do believe in all obstacles lies a opportunity for us to be better and is a stepping stone. In life there seem to have obstacles , there is no easy path. All obstacles will only strengthen us to continue our journey and never let it win.
Thank you Rinpoche for this profound teachings.
This is very true. Because doubt,anger and other obstacles are bound to come when we set out on the path of spirituality. However, it depends on us how we view them, ultimately everyone of these is a mental “state” which has arisen due to causes and conditions. Hence I believe it would be incorrect for us to be either attached to the “favourable” or aversed to the “unfavorable”.
I know these are pretty big words and I myself find it difficult to deal with the doubts that come to my mind at times. It’s because I’ve a preconceived notion of how things “ought to be” and this need for control is exactly the thing I believe I need to let go of.
I believe the learning that I need to take from this one is that I should not be attached to things being/going in a particular way. And I should try to look at things more objectively and not cling to the notions of things being “favourable” or “unfavorable” for ultimately they’re just labels.
Thanks a million Rinpoche for this wonderful teaching, especially at such a time when I needed it the most.
I think it’s true that whether it’s an obstacle or otherwise, it depends on how we think.
I think it’s a blessing in disguise that I wasn’t born into a very rich family. Otherwise, I’ll be a spoilt brat now. I’m not kidding. In fact, I think through all those little hiccups, I can appreciate life more. Also whether I’ll face obstacles during or after retreat, it doesn’t matter. After all, we need to move on anyway.
Thank you Rinpoche for this article.
Throughout our life, there bound to be obstacles. Obstacles are not bad because they help us to grow, it depends on how we see them. Like what Ven. Khenpo Karthar said, obstacles lead to realisations and can be very uplifting.
Whenever negative things happen in our life, we have to view them positively because they happen due to our past actions and our actions have ripened. We have to use the negative experiences as lessons to help us transform our mind and become a better person.
I think some obstacles can be overcome if our mind is steady and with proper time management. We must also push overselves and have discipline to do more. We also need to be proactive, hard working and work smart so that we can be fast and efficient. Thank you Rinpoche for sharing this short teaching.????
Nothing is an obstacle but thinking and our habituated negative emotions /gross delusions make it so. In reality, as Ven. Khenpo Karthar says, obstacles are impermanent and insubstantial and, in fact illusory. They arise interdependently. Only, from our habituated gross delusions and wrong perception, we falsely see them as real, substantial and permanent and cling to this false perception. We then react negatively. As in the example given, in meditation we see demons and spirits arising and perceive them as real and then our fears arise and our defence mechanism clicks in.
Thus, when Milarepa was meditating in a cave, and these demons came roaring at him, he responded by saying, “Your appearance is most wondrous, and your message is the message of my teacher.” In this way, he was able to work with them, seeing them not as obstacles but as “tests”.
Thank you Rinpoche for sharing this profound teaching on the reality of impermanence and on how we should not let obstacles overcome us.
Thank you Rinpoche for the beautiful teachings.Whatever happen never blame others or excuses but ourselves to blame.Whatever obstacles we faced ,look deep of the problems to solve it.The key to life is accepting challenges and difficulties strengthen our mind ,never give up when we face obstacles.Obstacles are created by own self due to lack of understanding and awareness, there is always a answer to it.Its a form of teaching for us to learn as well. Consistently do our meditation and recite our mantras to clear any obstacles that arise.
We should see any hardships or obstacles in Dharma as a stepping stone to us to achieve attainment. Obstacles itself not a problem but it depends how we look at that obstacles. Once we faced obstacles, we must comtemplate and find the solution. We shouldn’t keep complaining because this will lead us to negative mindset.
We should recite more mantra to tap energy with Buddha or Dharma Protector and get blessing from Buddha or Dharma Protector. This will help us clear obstacles and collect merits.
Thanks Rinpoche to share this articles.
Jason
When I learnt a little bit about dharma, I’d sometimes like to decorate my statements with “oh, these are obstacles arising due to my karma”. From the onset, it may seemed harmless to utter the words and maybe even not wrong, but as I read this article and reflect, I could see the grave mistake that I have made. Always thinking that issues are obstacles actually cultivates more passive traits than positive ones. It disarmed one from seeking for learnings and positivity from the incidents. Issues that arise are neither obstacles nor not obstacles, but it is how we work with the situation that matters. This is a good reminder for me to start looking for the gems in every issue that I encounter.
Thank You Rinpoche for the teachings.
Humbly, bowing down,
Stella Cheang
Thank you Rinpoche for the beautiful blog article .. Yes Rinpoche we should not run away from problems; instead, develop ourself so much that no matter what problem we encounter, we will have what it takes to overcome it. Clearly understand obstacles are created by own karma..
what a beautiful lama tsongkhapa, and good message ” the demon of your confusion does not cling to you, you cling to it.”
Thank you Rinpoche for this sharing. Now I understand and has the preparation that when the time we go for our meditation, that might has some test and we should not afraid or give up our meditation, as all of that is just illusion. Our sadness, depression, fear and etc are just illusion. What we should do is to consistently do our meditation and realize all the ‘obstacles’ is insubstantial, uncompounded, and only existing interdependently.
謝謝仁波切無时無刻與我們分享利益衆生的難得的教學，重要的是提醒我們如何對治輪迴的苦難意識，轉換成助缘之器。在生活中最大的障礙是腦海中投射的思想和觀念產生的障礙，重要性是征服我們如何看待一個事件或由負轉正的行動，成為一個鼓勵或教導我們學會成為一個佛法實踐者。
感谢仁波切的教诲。如果我们遇到一切障礙，都認为是提升修行的助缘 ，就没有什么障礙可言了。只有此逆境條件方能培養我们成為更強，更好。
Short yet powerful message.
I will constantly improve myself to face adversity. I now understand obstacles happen due to my lack of awareness, understanding and meditative insight.
Thank you, Rinpoche.
Milarepa shows much courage to face his demons, which is what we all should when we are facing our demons. We must not falter in the face of difficulties and problems.
Thank you Rinpoche always share us precious teaching and remind us on awareness of samsara suffering. The biggest obstacles in life is our Mind. The thought and perception projected in our mind create the obstacles for us to proceed in dharma path and pursue with negative action . The importance is to conquer our mind on how we perceive an incident or an action from negative to positive and become an encouragement or teaching for us to learn to be a dharma practitioner .
If we choose to treat the negative action as pain then we will never transform and learn. The pain is helpless in our life but go deeper and deeper.
Thank you Rinpoche for sharing this blog post with us. Obstacles is come from our own if we willing to work hard and stay calm when facing this challenge in life then the problem will resolved. The more we encounter this life challenge we will train our mind to become stronger and eventually become a more better person.
Everything is in our mind. How we feel depends on how we want think about it. How we think about it, is actually a label we put on it. All of us have this ability to convince ourselves on how to stay strong and over come whatever that come to us. There’s no obstacles if we think there are not. There’s no difficulties when we think this was the training that our guru gave us. It sounds easier talking then doing it. This does not happen over night but knowing the truth I believe by meditating on it we can slowly switch our mind in just a second.
Obstacles arose from our perception and how we view the obstacles is defined and controlled by us. Due to our habituation we view certain “situations” as undesirable and that becomes an obstacle. However, if we understand that the obstacles are just illusions we should attempt to “battle” against them.
Thank you, Rinpoche.
I met That rinpoche in chicago at a ktd center. He was super nice. I will tell you all about it someday. Sometimes meditation is super scary tho. I had this one time during a 30 day retreat where i saw this poor girl… there was this whole drama like she needed help. I am pretty sure it was imaginary. 30 days for 20 hours a day sitting on a pillow staring at a wall.. maybe it was boredom or insanity but it would make an awesome tv show. it was super trippy but it I really hate when a song gets stuck in my head and i forget to let it go. Right now i keep myself pretty distracted. I live alone and i am scared to turn the tv off. All my zazen training is going to waste man you better rescue meh LOL
Acknowledging that the mind is the root creator of everything – from happiness to misery, we must therefore be able to tame and transform it, so that we can use it to generate a proper meditional insight. As said by Rinpoche, “we should never be controlled by our emotions or act out of them, as it’s illusory”. In this blog teachings, it is said by Ven. Khenpo Kharthar that, “There is not any event that under all circumstances is an obstacle. If you have enough meditative insight and understanding, the test could heighten your realisation to a great extent. The demon of confusion does not cling to us. We cling to it. What is important is how a person is able to work with what happens, so strictly speaking, these neither are obstacles or are not obstacles”. They are just another display of illusions. How wisdomise!
I believe is our own perception to label the circumstances as an obstacles. I always believe everything happen for a reason. If we can understand the nature for all things happen we definitely able to control our emotion and act accordingly when the circumstances arises.
As Milarepa said all the obstacles as a teaching from his Guru then those circumstances is not an obstacles but a form of teaching for him learn and take the right action to move on.
Thank you Rinpoche sharing such a profound teaching.
I’m not sure how deep I went – I can still feel my feet touching the bottom but here’s what I got so far –
First of all, what is meditation? I can sit and focus on breathing and call that meditation. I can just stare at a picture and call that meditation also. My understanding is that to meditate is to be aware.
A test is a test of choices. What is behind our choices, what gives them color? Our intention. So I can see what my motivation really is based on which choice I’ve made. Each decision is a test of my motivation.
My thoughts do not exist on their own and they are not out to get me. I create them myself and by clinging to these thoughts, I perpetuate them. Failing to see my true nature, all that’s left is who I think I am. I think, therefore, I am?
“I can’t practice because this. I can’t practice because that.” My latest obstacle was a horrible, screeching whistling that crescendos throughout my room when the wind blows fast (and the wind blew for hours).Instead of working with the situation, I chose to turn it into an obstacle, “I can’t practice until this noise stops! It’s not my fault!” Well, in hindsight, all I had to do was move to another location but if I had done that then I would have no seemingly valid and just excuse for not practicing.
I strongly agreed with what has been written here. Whenever we are doing something good, the so called obstacles will definitely appear. The decision to fight or not to is in our hands. We have to deal with our obstacles, just like how Thomas Edison did before he could create a light bulb. Without obstacles we will never learn to fight for ourselves, we will never succeed; but letting our obstacles taking in charge of our minds will lead us to nothing but turning us into losers. Obstacle is self-produced, no one can clear it for us except for ourselves.
Such a profound teaching. Obstacles are self created, see every problem as an opportunity for us to grow, to examine how much we have progress on our spiritual practice. The more calm we are when we are facing a problem, the more we have progressed. What seem to be an obstacle can be an opportunity, depends on how you want to see it.
This practice of not allowing obstacles to cause you to fail is absolutely necessary for a perfect life, whether in Dharma or just secularly. Obstacles only appear as they seem to us, we just have to change the perception.
Thank you Rinpoche for sharing this.
Circumstances are perceptions and it is how we perceive them that make them into obstacles or not.
The phrase that stood out for me is “The demon of your confusion does not cling to you, you cling to it.” Okay I admit I don’t quite get it yet to the extend of being able to dissect the depth of this phrase but it’s something for me to contemplate on.
“What is really important is how a person is able to work with what happens, so strictly speaking, these neither are obstacles or are not obstacles.”
With deep understanding and insight meditation, we can win over obstacles,
thank you Rinpoche for this profound teaching.
Thank you Rinpoche for sharing on this profound teaching. Obstacles can pull us down to a zero state or lift us up to another higher level of spiritual success. If we are able to recognize and acknowledge that these obstacles are only illusory play in our mind (which are not real) and at the same time we consistently overcome it again and again, our defense system in our mind will become stronger and able to withstand or stay away from any worldly temptation, greed, hatred, laziness, bad excuses, attachments, ignorance and selfishness.
“There is not any event that under all circumstances is an obstacle”
This sentence have to be in my daily meditation and contemplation. When negative changes takes place in our lives, it becomes the core subject in the mind. It shakes and rock our minds so much that we loose control and be taken over by emotions and delusions. The world we expected to have crumbles and so does our minds and body.For some there may be no return to the so called norm. Hence, it is very crucial for those who have the fortune to meet the 3 jewels to learn this teaching and keep it close to our daily practice to NOT allow the obstacles to win the battle.
Thank you Rinpoche for this teaching. We have endless obstacles in this samsaric life that needs to be subdued.
It is our clinging to our negative habituation and emotional conditioning that makes us see every ‘undesirable’ situation as an obstacle. If we apply meditative insight and understanding, we will transform our negative perceptions of these experiences into a realization of the true nature of all things as impermanent , insubstantial and existing interdependently.
Thus, we will not reject the appearances of existing things, but see them as not holding the truth of independence or substantiality. They are all merely a “play of illusion”.
If we can shine the lamp of wisdom, in this manner, on all events and experiences, they will no longer be ordinary or seen as obstacles, but become transcendental experiences.The example of Milarepa and the way he “worked” with the so-called demons show us how this works.
From this, we see that there are actually no experiences that are obstacles .
Thank you Rinpoche for sharing this profound wisdom teaching of Ven Khenpo Karthar.
Wow, its simple yet profound explanation on dealing with our obstacles and handling on meditation and contemplation. Thanks Rinpoche for sharing 🙂
Thank you Rinpoche for your teaching.
Milarepa said to the so called demons “Your appearance is most wondrous, and your message is the message of my teacher.” If I look at all obstacles are message from my teacher to train me, there is no obstacle anymore. There is only condition to train me to be stronger and better. So, it is how I can work with that situation.
Thank you Rinpoche!
Thank you so much for sharing this. Khenpo Karther is my root teacher and has been profoundly inspirational in my life. He is truly one of the great Tibetan masters.
I also feel blessed to have found Tsem Rinpoche and have access to his teachings on line. His clarity, wit and style makes the dharma accessible and applicable to all aspects of life. Thank you Rinpoche
感恩尊贵的仁波切您给予的教诲
您总是能在我们彷徨与无助的时候，当我们细细的阅读您给予的教诲与开示总是能给予我们棒头一棒 清醒起来
我们总是抱住好的发心在生活里，在佛法工作里，然而当一些障碍发生的时候，有的时候我们的心识不稳的时候，总是开始但对我们来说是一种精神恶魔，我们会错觉它是真实的。我们会害怕，并尝试为自己辩护慌张起来，甚至乎会出现乱病投医的状况
感恩您的开示，让我明白，一切唯心造，障碍在于，是我们习性和情绪调节，我们需要足够的洞察和理解来面对它们，而困惑与障碍本身不执着于我们，而往往其实是我们执着于它
感恩尊贵的上师您，让我们总是能学习把佛法实践在我们的生活，与运用在我们的佛法工作里，让我们能有机会的学习转化我们的心识，并透过转化我们的心识，让我们更能稳定的帮助一切有情众生
我祈愿我在kechara全职工作的功德，能回响给您，并在我每天的功课里惦记您，祈愿您长住在世。常转法轮，身体健康，一切吉祥如意
Obstacles are defined by us. We can change the definition.
Practice of Meditation is so important!
Thank You Rinpoche.