Vajrasattva Retreat 2005:

On 5 January 2005, a three-month Vajrasattva Retreat was held at Sravasti Abbey. During the retreat, each morning the participants took turns leading their fellow retreatants in cultivating a good motivation for their meditation that day. You may want to read one of these motivations each morning to inspire your practice

Motivations by Miles - Jan 14, 2005

Good morning. I hope you all are enjoying your stay here at the Vajrasattva Pure Land Inn. I am honored to be your host for the day. So, as many of us are on the bubble of becoming enlightened or, freaking out, let's set our motivation. Refuge is the result of two causes as Khensur Rinpoche taught us: 1. Fear 2. Faith

Fear, fear of what? Let's check this out. Some examples (glance meditation):

• Could we die any moment and end up in a unfortunate realm?
• What we enjoy, does it last?
• We are all aging slowly. The body is decaying, senses losing their efficiency. Is this something you look forward to?
• The illusion like concept of death is always one breath away.
• And quite possibly our greatest suffering, our inability to help all of our infinite mother sentient beings, even in the slightest.

Refuge. How do we change this?

• We have all made huge efforts to get here- great sacrifice. All For the purpose of being able to sit this morning, yeah?
• The Buddha was once in our shoes, yeah? He paved the path and overcame all our obstacles. He taught and gave us the precious Dharma and Sangha. We can end this cycle of suffering. You know the practice. You have quite possibly the most supportive and joyous group of wanna-be Vajrasattva's around, an amazing cook, and a supreme teacher. -How lucky are we!
• Is the amount of faith cultivated, strictly related to amount of karma purified?

We are planting seeds of happiness for all beings. Set your determination as deep as you want and let's change this world!